The federal cabinet will decide on 13.6 percent increase in gas tariff along with the Petroleum Ministry’s request for amendments in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 1860 and Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 1898 to make tampering with or damaging the petroleum and gas pipelines a criminal offence with rigorous imprisonments and hefty fines. An official source said the Petroleum Ministry had recommended 13.6 percent increase across the board for all consumer slabs. For curbing the theft of gas, the ministry had moved a draft bill for amendments in the PPC 1860 and CrPC 1898. In case of tampering with the gas metre, a domestic consumer would be liable to an imprisonment of six months with a fine of Rs 10,000 while in case of industrial metre the proposed imprisonment is three years with a
fine of Rs 1 million.