Allegations of influencing elections: Petroleum ministry strives to save MDs of gas utilities

Tells ECP they have normal contracts and only PM can fire them.

ISLAMABAD:

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has staunchly defended heads of gas distribution companies, telling the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which sought removal of managing directors of these companies, they are working on normal contracts and the prime minister is the only authority that can fire them.

In a letter sent to the Election Commission, the ministry has requested that Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Managing Director Arif Hameed and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Managing Director Zuhair Siddiqui should be allowed to continue in their services.

They had been regular employees of the two companies and were later appointed on contract as managing directors. Hameed had started his career as an engineer in SNGPL and Zuhair Siddiqui began work as general manager in SSGC, the ministry said.

Earlier, the Election Commission had asked the caretaker government to terminate immediately the services of managing directors of SNGPL and SSGC, arguing they might influence upcoming elections through gas schemes in constituencies of some powerful election candidates.

The ministry, in its letter, stressed that the managing directors had been appointed after following normal procedures and rules and regulations. “The prime minister appointed them and now he can remove them if there is violation (of rules) in hiring their services,” it added.

When approached, Caretaker Petroleum Minister Suhail Wajahat confirmed that the letter was sent to the Election Commission and they were waiting for its response.

According to sources, though the SSGC head was hired on contract, the SNGPL MD is still a regular employee and will retire in February next year. Last prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had on March 15 given Hameed one-year extension in service, six months before the expiry of his contract in September 2013.

The move to remove the heads of gas utilities came after a complaint to the Election Commission that gas development schemes might be employed as a major tool to win elections. The complainant was of the view that the heads of gas companies had been brought by the previous government and they were following its agenda.

Before the dissolution of assemblies in mid-March, former premier Ashraf had issued orders for giving new gas connections, costing Rs46 billion, in constituencies of influential politicians.

The gas schemes were approved for constituencies of Raja Pervez Ashraf, former deputy prime minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, former Public Accounts Committee chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan, former ministers Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Tasneem Ahmad Qureshi, Anwar Ali Cheema, Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Syed Sumsam Ali Bukhari, Mahreen Anwar Raja and Senate Chairman Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2013.

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