Punjab gas crisis: President orders five-day supply to industry

Panel formed for equitable gas supply.

KARACHI: Amid a deepening natural gas crisis in Punjab, President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday directed the authorities to provide gas to the industrial sector five days a week from today (Wednesday).

In a meeting with a delegation of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), led by its chairperson Gohar Ejaz, the president also reprimanded the Sui Northern Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) for cancelling five-day a week gas supply to Punjab.

The meeting at Bilawal House in Karachi was convened to take stock of the gas situation in the country. The gas shortage has led to the closure of industrial units in Punjab, triggering strong criticism from the PML-N government in the province.

The president said the gas supply issues in Punjab must be looked into urgently and the labourers’ complaints addressed forthwith.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party is a party of labourers and the problems of the working class must be addressed on a priority basis,” he said. The president said that the textile industry is critical to the country’s economy and it must not be allowed to suffer on account of gas supply problems.

President Zardari also formed a committee comprising government officials and representatives of leading businesses and stock exchanges to review the entire gas infrastructure in the country, and submit proposals for equitable availability of gas to domestic, industrial and commercial users.

According to presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, the committee will be headed by the petroleum minister, and will comprise representatives of Aptma, federations of chamber of commerce and industry, and stock markets, besides managing directors of public sector gas supply companies. In the absence of Petroleum Minister Naveed Qamar, Petroleum Secretary Imtiaz Qazi will head the committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2011.