ISLAMABAD: Sui Northern Gas Company Limited (SNGPL), while setting aside the rights of thousands of gas consumers, has allegedly given special preference to the constituency of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the new gas connection policy, it has been reliably learnt.
Well-informed sources told Pakistan Today that a few months before the upcoming general elections in the country, SNGPL had started giving special preference to the constituency of the prime minister.
Setting aside the Supreme Court (SC) order to maintain a policy of merit, SNGPL had advised the officials of the PM’s constituency to immediately install gas connections for the electorate of the area.
The sources also said that PM Abbasi had used his influence to provide gas connections to his constituency on a preferential basis. This move by the prime minister and SNGPL had been made contrary to the merit policy of state institutions and had raised many eyebrows.
According to the sources, by bypassing the schedule of the waiting period for the survey, proposal letters and installation of gas connection, SNGPL had ordered the immediate installation of new gas connection in Murree, Kahota, and Kalar Syedan without paying the urgent fee and skipping the six-month long waiting period.
It is relevant to mention here that presently the residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province were getting new gas connections by paying the normal fee and waiting for 18 to 26 months. Similarly, people from Punjab province have to wait for 3 to 45 months to get a new gas connection on normal fee.
However, the prime minister’s constituency had been given special preference in the new gas connection policy and voters in his constituency were currently receiving gas supply on an immediate basis. Meanwhile, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had kept mum over the violation of its merit policy on the order of premier Abbasi.
Documents available with Pakistan Today disclosed that SNGPL Deputy Chief Accountant (Regulatory Affairs) Kashif Javed had informed OGRA on January 18 about the change in the merit policy and adoption of a discriminatory policy against gas consumers in KP and Punjab by giving preference to applicants belonging to Abbasi’s constituency. However, OGRA, which is mandated to protect the interests of the consumers, had succumbed under the prime minister’s pressure and kept its silence over the sheer violation of its merit policy and favouritism on political grounds.
Officials at the Petroleum Division, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the information and said that SNGPL had in fact given preferential treatment to the constituency of PM Abbasi in the schedule of new gas connections. They said PM Abbasi had made strong efforts to separate Murree, Kahota, and Kalar Syedan from Islamabad-Rawalpindi zone, apparently to avoid contempt of court due to the violation of the merit policy.
They also said that the apparent aim behind separating the above-mentioned areas from Islamabad-Rawalpindi zone was to secure exemption from the merit policy for these areas. At present, only domestic gas consumers from the PM’s constituency were receiving gas connections on an immediate basis and that too without paying the urgent fee. “Due to this discriminatory policy adopted by the prime minister, gas consumers and applications for new gas connections in central and south Punjab are being badly affected,” an official said.
On the other hand, OGRA had already raised its concerns that SNGPL had created a huge difference between among gas consumers in upper, central and south Punjab.
It merits mention here that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while holding the post of the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources in 2015 had approved billions of rupees worth Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Air Mix plant for his constituency. Following the advice of the government, SNGPL had purchased LPG Air Mix plant and constructed billion of rupees worth gas pipeline network in the hilly area of Murree. Unfortunately, the same LPG Air Mix plant is now dumped in SNGPL’s storage after failing to provide essential gas and fuel facilities to the residents of Murree.
