PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken strict notice of fuel shortage in various parts of the country. Upon arriving from Saudi Arabia on Saturday, the prime minister called a meeting at the airport and took some decisions to improve the situation immediately.
Four officials held responsible for the crisis were suspended, while instructions were given to provincial governments to check the sale of petrol in the black market. Further, measures were taken to expedite the supply and delivery of fuel.
The officials who will be suspended immediately include Secretary Petroleum and Natural Resources Abid Saeed, Additional Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Naeem Malik, Director General Oil Muhammad Azam and PSO Managing Director Amjad Pervez Janjua.
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If you put Pakistani Government in charge of the Sahara desert, in 5 years there would be a shortage of sand!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9JpRvyrcWs This interview with the federal minister should answer your questions. To make judgements and allegations of corruption/nepotism is a hallmark of our short sighted and shallow society. Instead of offering solutions to the current crisis all I see are PTI trolls foaming from their mouths with delight. Just remember that even if Imran Khan becomes PM this situation could occur again unless we face our problems now as a united people.
@salman:Oh he dare not
Scapegoats...
The problem is inept and corrupt bunch of government interested in making their own money ...
Decision in the federal government are fairly structured .Secretary can neither sit over or push a critical matter without the occurrence of the Minister . How come the owner of Air Blue has been spared of the tightened noose! Either N.S is too naive to under stand the working of the government or wishes to save his cronies . Not some thing new , considering the fact that culprits of Model Town massacre are still roaming around with impunity . One wonders why he is off to Saudi Arabia every second month . Accountability should start with the political bosses . People are far too discernible ,no one will buy suspension drama for the most inept government in the living history of Pakistan .
@afroz: Please contact the nearest mental facility immediately. Your symptoms have reached the most dangerous level.Please hurry.
Nawaz Sharif's response to his own incompetency is irrational and eyewash.Where is the bungling Minister of Finance? In Japan I believe. Nothing in the news. This sounds intriguing. Both 'samdhis' were perhaps preoccupied with personal affairs hense this national disaster. Govts fall with such disgraceful performance. Not here because over the years PML N culture has spread to the bottom of the pit.Honesty and self respect have vanished or made to vanish through coersion and goondaism. Evidence is there for all to see. A corrupt and incompetent dispensation is being tolerated by the next generation of same people who removed Ayub Khan then removed Z A Bhutto. The change in us could be judged by the fact that we tolerated Zardari and Nawaz and his brother.This is doomsday scenario for us.
We might as well fire these corrupt thugs ruling and looting us in the name of democracy
@Ch. Allah Daad: Why you're not saying thank you Mian Sab now?
This government is a failure!
I had high hopes from Nawaz Sharif, the lowest level of it was that he can surely not be worse than the previous PPP government. It seems however, that he is a lot worse. Previous government did not let this come to pass despite the extremely volatile global petrol prices and Great Recession. The mind bogglingly incompetent Sharif government has been lucky with continuously dropping oil prices and recovering economies of our export destinations yet they can't even order oil on time.
@afroz: we are looking for any ability of this man
@Blithe: good advice for our PM!
Id like to know what portfolios will these geniuses be blessed with next.
The machinery has never worked smoothly, everything they do, has an element of corruption.
The persons responsible are the finance and oil ministers. They have not paid the outstanding debts and the PSO can't do much about it. If these two minister have any dignity and self respect, they should come out clear and resign.
Apparently political and govt terrorists never get the punishment they truly deserve. Instead of suspension I would last these folks in open round about so this type of corruption never happen again in my beloved nation. Oh well time to wake up.
PM should have terminated himself for failures across the board but that's only something a statesman would do.
Is this news worthy? So what if a few million people can't drive their cars for days? The real saucy news is Imran's marriage!!!
ET, please shift your patriotic focus on that. Thank you.
What is the problem? Ask Pervez Rashid to pull out his Water Powered Car that he drove with that famous name in Pakistani science and intellect, Hamid Heisenberg Mir!
PM should file himself on his performance and go for sightseeing trip with his son in UK.
Only in Pakistan! A mass reduction in petrol price results in severe shortage.
All this happening under the nose of those higher ups who have interests in this petrol hoarding saga.
Mr. PM It is you who should resign with immediate effect. You purchase Oil from the PSO but you hardly ever bother to pay its cost to PSO on schedule to enable them to arrange sufficient reserve for the future requirement. You are more concerned for having sufficient funds for your foreign trips and neglecting purchases made on credit on agreed terms to be cleared off. You are yourself bypassing the office decorum within your Govt by saving the skin of your in-competent Ministers and suspending the innocent.
They have already made their millions of dollars
suspend is not enough they should punish hard so other can learn lesson from that.
Go Nawaz Go
@afroz:
This situation should not have happened at all....what were all his ministers from family members doing all this time ? They should have been taken to task not the subordinates... when the oil is now at $ 48 per barrel...the lowest in history, we have run short of oil..what a joke....the world is laughing at us and your are singing praises for NS....such a situation,occurred only for the Railways during last PPP rule not the general public especially the Punjab who is under the rule of PML N and the center....what a shame!
Price elasticity of demand - please learn the basics of managerial economics
Nawaz need to suspend himself.
Dollar Dar is related to Nawaz. Married in the Sharif Family. He will not be sacked.
Suspended ???..........now when will they be promoted ?
People of the country should keep faith on nawaz..look he is so quick to respond ...we all know that this man has the ability to make the country economically strongest in the region and a regional suprepower
Petrol shortage was notify 10 days ago from start of this year. Actually Ishaq Dar and Mr. Abbasi must be fired. Due to liquidity crunch PSO is always on default edge. Everybody knows but i think Nawaz Sharif don't know about this.
It's all because of dharna!!! Oh wait, there no dharna anymore!?
The politicians/businessmen did not want to see fall in their profits from dropping petroleum prices in the World market. The scarcity is created artificially to keep the product prices higher. Mr. PM you and your goons have gone back to your old tricks. PAT/PTI needs this time to make sure you leave your PM ship that you do not deserve.
PM has suspended all the wrong ppl, the Ministry that screwed up was the Finance ministry, They didn't release PSO's payments and neither did they offer any guarantee's so the banks open their LCs.
he should first suspend and dismiss himself where the problem is
Bravo!! And what are the plans of his excellence for replenishing the stocks of petrol? @Mr. PM: Honestly speaking, suspending even the entire ministry of petroleum is not gonna bring us petrol sooner than a week at this point. Show some courage n fire the ACTUAL ones responsible for this exemplary show of good governance I.e. the minister of petroleum n minister of finance. Shouldn't the finance minister be taking the blame for rising circular debt as he used to take credit for minimizing it in earlies days?
@hami Why Finance Minister only. It is his ever fooling ever survivor Secretary Finance.
PM should reinstate the suspended officials as the main culprits behind the shortage of petrol are the CEO's of Power Generating Companies who are not paying billions of rupees to PSO to purchase petrol and petrolium products, but at the same time have increased power tariff mani folds which has gone out of the reach of a common man in Pakistan.
Whole country is full of oil tankers but we have short supply of oil.
@Ch. Allah Daad: The officials were infact warning the ministry for many days but your handpicked minister was not listening. If Prime minister wants to dismiss anyone then he should dismiss the Minister who is also his very best friend. The minister that has caused this mess is infact enjoying while the officers who were warning are now gone. For the people like you this news is enough http://tribune.com.pk/story/821948/on-the-edge-furnace-oil-stock-used-up-massive-blackout-feared/
Mr. Prime Minuster too little too late height of mismanagement on your part and that of your cabinet. If someone needs to be suspended it is your minister of finance.
Ha, Ha, Ha. After establishing military courts it is time to handover petroleum supply to the army. ASC and its subsidiary NLC will do a better job.
Should have suspended his minister if he was serious in controlling this situation in the future another lame exercise to make common man fool
pm when you are going to terminate your minster for oil and gas and alike for this crisis
Oh! Who dared to woke his majesty from slumber?
yes, huge lot of govt officials are available for sacrifice and suspension at the cost of incompetency and illegibility of politicians to fool these naive peoples
Kick them out permanently.
What about the guy responsible? The petroleum minister? He gets a free pass? Why?