Daily Times

A legislative body of the Lower House of parliament on Thursday expressed serious concern over continues gas supply crisis in most part of the country and directed the ministry/companies concerned to ensure proper supply.

It was also blamed that gas connection was also not provided in merit and staff mostly SNGPL were taking kickbacks while providing the utility to general consumers. The committee complained that on one side the gas company SNGPL failed to provide gas and on other side the gas prices increased by 214 percent. They termed it totally injustices with the general public.

These discussions were held in National Assembly Standing committee on Energy which was held in parliament house while MNA Imran Khattak was in the chair.

The chairman and members of the energy committee expressed annoyance on the continuous load shedding of Gas in different parts of the country. The PTI MNA Noor Alam Khan warned that people in Peshawar and other parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were ready to come on roads against the injustices carried out by the gas supply company. PML-N MNA Khurram Dastgir questioned the justification of increase in gas prices by 214 percent despite the fact that both the domestic and industrial consumers were crying for supply of gas. Although the department and gas companies were informed in advance over the expected gas crises but they totally failed to ensure proper mechanism for smooth supply of gas, he maintained. The Ministry said that due to the unprecedented current cold spell, the consumption of the gas has been increased and the companies have to adjust the gas supply to the domestic consumers as well as to the power sector, in spite of the fact that 11.6% of more gas has been injected in the system. Chairman of the committee Imran Khattak directed the Secretary and concerned officials to address the concerns of the people on priority. He asked the Secretary to address the concerns of elected representatives regarding their development schemes.

The committee also directed the ministry to complete the process of shifting the Head Office of SNGPL to Islamabad without any further delay. They were of the view that mostly chief of the SNGPL remained in the capital for official work and it was also difficult for them and the staff to ensure presence in the capital. Therefore, it would be better to shift the entire MD SNGPL office in Islamabad. The committee was informed that a sub-office of MD SNGPL was established, however, complete shifting will require more financial resources.

The committee was angered on the absence of Secretary Power Division and officers without any justification or reason. The committee took exception of it and referred the matter to the Speaker as it tantamount to the breach of privilege of the Standing Committee as well as the Parliament. Chairman of the committee said it was unjustifiable that public representative come for far-flung areas of the country and Secretary Power unable to attend the committee.

MNA’s Junaid Akber, Malik Anwar Taj, Noor Alam Khan, Shahid Ahmed, Sardar Talib Hassan Nakai, Khurram Dastagir Khan, Ch. Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Shazia Marri, Zahid Akram Durrani & Mover of the Bills Syed Agha Rafiullah, MNA & Syed Fakhar Imam, MNA and Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Division along with senior officers of the relevant departments attended the meeting.