The Council of Common Interest (CCI) will meet today (Tuesday) with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the chair to take up a six-point agenda, being termed the ‘national agenda’ by the prime minister.
The meeting will undertake discussion and input on the National Energy Policy 2013-18, legal measures recommended for amendments in laws to curb power and gas theft and inter-provincial transfer and fiscal discipline. A well-placed source informed Pakistan Today that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Pervez Khattak, Shahbaz Sharif from Punjab and Dr Abdul Malik from Balochistan had given their consent to attend the moot. The six-point CCI agenda includes briefing on the CCI affairs, National Energy Policy 2013-18, Gas theft control and recovery draft bill, amendments proposed in Petroleum Policy 2012, inter-provincial transfer and fiscal discipline, and offences and penalties relating to electricity, including amendments in Pakistan Penal Codes (PPC) and criminal procedure code (CrPC). “The prime minister would ask the provincial chief ministers to ensure lawmaking in their respective provinces for effective control of gas and power leakages. These include gas theft control and recovery draft bill and offences and penalties relating to electricity (amendments in PPC and CrPC) passed by provinces,” the source added. “After approval by the CCI, the energy policy would be sent to the federal cabinet for approval, likely to be on July 25,” the source said, adding that the policy also aimed at reforming the power sector, while removal of subsidies had also been recommended. The chief ministers of the provinces have been asked to give their input on the energy policy for improving the electricity generation, overcoming load shedding and improving the collection of electricity bills from consumers.