New acting heads of SNGPL, SSGC appointed

Earlier, government removed the MDs following acute gas shortage in country

ISLAMABAD: Boards of directors of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on Thursday appointed new acting heads following removal of their managing directors a day ago by the prime minister over acute gas shortages.

The Petroleum Division, in its report, had put the entire responsibility of the recent gas crisis on the managing directors of the two public gas utilities.

Consequently, the Prime Minister Secretariat on Wednesday sent a letter to the Petroleum Division, directing it to immediately remove the MDs and appoint new heads. The Petroleum Division wrote a letter to the two companies, telling them to give charge to the senior most officials before regular appointments.

The boards of the utilities held emergency meetings on Thursday and decided to give the acting charge to their senior officials.

The SNGPL’s board gave the acting charge to Deputy Managing Director Finance Amir Tufail whereas the SSGC board gave the acting MD charge to Deputy Managing Director Corporate Services Imran Farookhi.

The Petroleum Division secretary, in his report sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan, had said the managements of SNGPL and SSGC were responsible for the gas crisis. Earlier, the premier had rejected a fact-finding report on the gas crisis, submitted by a special committee, and directed the Petroleum Division secretary to reinitiate investigation in order to identify the officials and lobbies behind the gas shortages.

The fact-finding report was discussed in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy, chaired by the prime minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2019.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.