Sindh hits back at Centre in gas crisis blame game

Minister says gas provision is responsibility of federal govt

KARACHI: Ensuring the provision of gas is solely the responsibility of the federal government, said Sindh Information, Archives and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani on Saturday, pointing out that the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines were both federal entities.

He was responding to remarks made by Omar Ayub Khan, the federal minister for power, after a visit to SSGC headquarters on Friday. Khan had claimed that the provincial government had not given right of way to the Centre to lay a gas pipeline in Sindh, which was the fundamental reason for the current gas crisis in the province. He added that work was being carried out on two pipelines but the Sindh government had not yet given way on a third 125-kilometre pipeline.

Ghani, in his press conference, said that in accordance with Article 158 of the Constitution, the province producing the gas had first rights to it. "If the people of Sindh keep suffering due to the unavailability of gas, we will keep questioning the federal government as to why we are not receiving it despite producing the most gas," he stated, adding that the province produced 70 per cent of the country's gas.

He further claimed that the federal government had never discussed a third pipeline with the Sindh energy minister.

"We are not receiving gas and the blame has been put on the provincial government. The federal government is responsible, it is the job of the federal government," he said.

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'Baseless and unfounded'

Meanwhile, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh also lambasted Khan's statement, calling it "baseless and unfounded." He claimed that the federal minister was trying to put all the blame on the Sindh government even though it was the Centre's failure.

In a statement to the media, Sheikh said that there was a gas shortage in all the provinces, including Sindh, which had been created by the federal government. He added that the Oil and Gas Regulation Authority (OGRA) and the SSGC were both federal bodies, where Sindh, having no representatives, was ignored.

The provincial energy minister also stated that the Centre, including OGRA, had not contacted the Sindh government about the right of way of pipelines. He added that the federal government had reached out to Sindh regarding the Amna and Ayesha gas-fields in Badin, after which a special Sindh cabinet session had approved the proposals.

Claiming that the Sindh government had tried to bring the shortage of gas to the Centre's attention, he said their offers of help were rejected. "We are ready to cooperate with the federal government," he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2019.