Gas loadshedding: Peshawar High Court summons SNGPL’s general manager

Seeks explanation on prolonged gas outages.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has summoned Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) General Manager Muhammad Haroon to appear before the court on February 13 and explain reasons for the prolonged gas outages across the provincial capital.

A division bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser issued the summons while hearing a petition filed by Yasir Ali to PHC’s Human Rights Directorate regarding the unavailability of natural gas in Regi, rural Peshawar.

During the hearing, the bench observed that Haroon, in a statement before the court on December 4, had claimed that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has an abundance of natural gas and also supplies 134 million cubic feet (mcf) gas to Punjab.

The court, however, questioned why loadshedding was taking place despite a surplus in the province.



On December, the court asked Haroon to take strict action against all those involved in gas theft and suggested making it a non-bailable offence with a maximum 10-year sentence.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2013.