PM suspends secretary petroleum, three other high-ups

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: As the petrol crisis further intensified in Punjab, the federal government has taken stern notice of the petrol shortage in the country and has immediately suspended the ministry of petroleum and natural resources secretary, the additional secretary, the DG (Oil) and Pakistan State Oil managing director.
On his arrival at the Lahore airport from Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened an emergency meeting over the acute shortage of petrol and immediately suspended Secretary Abid Saeed, Additional Secretary Naeem Malik, DG Mohammad Aazam and PSO MD Amjad Janjua.
Motorists are suffering as a majority of petrol stations in different cities of Punjab, including Lahore, remained shut for the fifth consecutive day.
Citizens are facing problems in obtaining petrol as various petrol pumps have put up ‘no sale’ notices while long queues of motorcycles and cars can be seen at the petrol pumps where fuel is available.
The Edhi ambulance service was also forced to shut down due to the suspension of fuel supplies, while only four vehicles of Rescue 1122 are operational in Lahore.
People were also seen arguing and fighting with the staff of petrol stations.
In a belated move to provide relief to motorists, the federal government allowed the opening of compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations in the Lahore region.
The CNG stations will be open for two days, Saturday and Sunday, and it is likely that many of them will not be able to operate due to multiple reasons. As per the announcement of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, the supply will be made only to CNG stations in Lahore city.
Many pumps will not be operative till Saturday evening due to the late availablity of information. All CNG stations in Punjab have been closed since November 2014, and staff working at these pumps has been laid off. The gas utility had also removed meters at many stations and it will be a major hurdle in resuming operations, said central office-bearers of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA).
APCNGA Central leader Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha said starting operations would mean paying fixed charges on gas and electricity bills which is not possible for a majority of financially-hit CNG station owners.
He expressed reservations over the government’s decision of allowing CNG stations in Lahore to open for only two days a week. He said the whole province of Punjab was suffering from a shortage of fuel; therefore, CNG stations should be allowed to operate for seven days a week across Punjab province.
When contacted, the Federal Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the notification about the suspension of four officials is yet to come and most probably will be issued when the prime minister lands in Islamabad today (Sunday).
When asked why the ministry has restored CNG supply in Lahore only whereas the masses in the whole of Punjab and Islamabad are facing a shortage of petrol, the minister said that in Islamabad the ministry can restore CNG if the residents who are enjoying gas in their homes surrender this right. However, he said: “We have restored CNG for two days in Lahore by diverting the gas that was being given to the textile sector and captive power plants.
The prime minister also issued instructions to the provincial governments to check the sale of petrol in the black market. He asked for taking further measures to expedite the supply and delivery of fuel.
Sources told The News that the prime minister has ordered a thorough probe of the crisis.
The government has stopped the PSO’s suspended MD Amjad Pervez Janjua from proceeding to Qatar where he had to represent the country in talks related to LNG import.
The general manager of PSO, Nasir Mahmood, has been designated to represent Pakistan in the meeting in Doha and he will be leaving for Qatar today (Sunday). This is the first time that four senior officials, including a grade-22 federal secretary, have been suspended by the incumbent government for allegations of negligence.
The sources said that the concerned authorities should have known that the alternate fuel for CNG was petrol and vehicles will switch to petrol. But the authorities failed to pre-empt the increase in the demand which swelled by 27 percent which was the main reason for the petrol shortage.
The official said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif asked the federal minister to restore CNG in Lahore until petrol supply improved 100 percent which is why CNG has been restored in Lahore.
The sources said that the country is also faced with an acute shortage of furnace oil and PSO is unable to import more furnace oil, which is used for power generation in the country.
PSO has defaulted to the tune of Rs50 billion of six local banks and also defaulted of the many L/Cs of Rs110 billion. Its recoverables have reached over Rs200 billion, but the power sector has failed to pay the dues of PSO.