Energy officials fail to provide Sindh, K-P gas figures

PAC examines audit paras of Petroleum Division, SNGPL for 2019-20

ISLAMABAD:

Key officials of the energy ministry drew ire of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday after they failed to provide exact figures about the annual production and consumption of gas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

PAC Chairman Rana Tanveer and other members of the committee were flabbergasted when the top officials of the ministry kept evading the simplest of the questions from the members, when they discussed the audit paras of the Petroleum Division and report of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) for 2019-20.

Since it appeared to be the day of keeping the exact figures hidden, the officials did not even disclose their exact salaries despite being asked by the PAC chairman. Their answers ranged from “it’s good enough” to “I will have to check” and “don’t exactly know because it is directly deposited in the bank”.

Tanveer regretted that there was no improvement despite being given higher salaries and packages to the officials. “Even the white elephants hired by the ministry couldn’t solve issues facing the energy sector and masses,” he lamented.

The secretary candidly admitted that the financial affairs of the energy sector were not good but stressed that things were being improved.

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The discussion about the annual gas figures started when Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz repeatedly asked the officials to give the annual figures of gas production and consumption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

The officials, without giving exact figures, replied that gas production was more than the demand in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. When PAC members pressed further, the officials admitted that the domestic production was doing down, saying: “It is insufficient” and the gap was being filled by importing gas.

Without giving any figures again, they further admitted that if gas connections were given to all, who were demand it than the demand would clearly be more than what was being produced.

After Faraz, PML-N’s Sheikh Rohale Asghar asked the officials to also provide figures of annual gas production and consumption in Punjab and Balochistan but the officials once again failed to satisfy the PAC members.

When Senator Talha Mehmood enquired about the status of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline but the officials again failed to answer. The PAC chairman lambasted the officials for not being able to provide exact figures and direct answers to the questions.

On the issue of overbilling, Tanveer said that he almost cried when an 80-year-old man came to him, and said that he had a one-room mud house with only one bulb in it but received electricity bill amounting to Rs70,000.

PML-N’s Khawaja Asif added that there were cases where police stations were involved in providing electricity connections to the surrounding streets but no action was taken against them.

The officials never disconnect connections of the police stations, DC offices or courts but they take swift action against the poor, Tanveer said, adding that they would not hesitate in disconnecting a whole village if the amount was pending against one poor man but they won’t take any action against the powerful people.

PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq’s questions that why factories’ securities were not seized and connections snapped when they failed to pay on time, also went without a clear answer.

Tanveer, at one point, said that gas pipeline was the root cause of the problems and the authorities should start supplying gas through bowsers and cylinders to overcome the leakages. He also regretted that new gas connections were not being provided, adding that consumers were also facing low pressure of gas.

During discussion, Faraz emphasised that any impression suggesting that everything was bad under the incumbent government should not be given.

Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Political Affairs and Chief Whip in the National Assembly, Malik Aamir Dogar, interjected saying that the discussion was more of a political nature than the actual business of PAC. Tanveer denied, saying that PAC only wanted to make things better.

Meanwhile, the only area where the PAC members lauded performance of the ministry officials was the recovery from the defaulters in the last two years. The officials said that Rs18 billion had already been recovered, adding that huge amount of the recoveries still were stuck because of the courts’ stay orders.

The officials revealed that all the compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had taken stay orders from courts.

They also clarified that total recoverable amount left was only Rs180 billion, saying that they did not know from where the figure of Rs1 trillion surfaced as the cases worth that amount were not pending before courts.

Responding to a question, the representatives assured PAC that a total of 307 ongoing schemes of gas would be completed by June 2022.