Proposals of fuel crisis panel still awaited

Sources say four-member ministerial committee has prepared its recommendations

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan last month formed a four-member ministerial committee to propose within one week actions against those responsible for last year’s fuel crisis in light of an inquiry commission’s report.

However, the ministerial committee – headed by Minister for Planning Asad Umar and comprising Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari and Minister for Railways Azam Swati – has not yet submitted its recommendations.

One of the members of the committee has told The Express Tribune that they have prepared their recommendations. However, delay in submission of these proposals stirs fears that those who minted billions of rupees during the crisis may go scot-free.

On December 15, 2020, the commission of inquiry headed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented before the federal cabinet its report on a petrol crisis that hit the country in June last year on the heels of a sugar and flour crisis.

The report had noted that one of the reasons behind the crisis was a lack of coordination among the departments working under the Petroleum Division and had also held the petroleum secretary and director-general oil responsible.

It had noted that oil marketing companies (OMCs) deliberately stopped supplying petrol to pumps despite having stocks at their disposal. The report said the OMCs had made from Rs6 to Rs8 billion during the June oil crisis by committing every illegality in “business as usual” manner.

It said the OMCs, in contravention of license conditions, slowed down the supply of petrol to their filling stations. On a lesser scale, the filling stations also held back on whatever stock they had in their tanks.

“All OMCs [other than the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Shell] proportionally held on to their stocks with knowledge of anticipated rise in prices. This has been proven during ground check of filling stations and records submitted by the OMCs with affidavits,” the report said.

During this period of crisis, it said, the OMCs showed sales on paper but the ground check of filling stations across Punjab clearly revealed that the OMCs were well short on supply. The report had also proposed dissolving the regulator, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).