Transport minister censures federal govt for halt in gas supply

People of Karachi were penalised with the halt in gas supply to CNG stations and industries when Prime Minister Imran Khan visited the city on Sunday, December 9.

This was said by Sindh Transport Minister Syed Awais Qadir Shah in a statement issued on Wednesday. According to Shah, suffering was always inflicted on the residents of Karachi whenever the PM arrived in the city.

The transport minister claimed that the PM during his recent visit had assured businesspersons and industrialists of the city that their industries would not face suspension of gas supply during the ongoing winter season.

According to the Article 158 of the Constitution, the federal government has no powers to curtail or stop gas supply to the residents of Sindh as it is a gas producing province of the country, Shah said. He added that the federal government’s decision to curtail gas supply to Sindh was unjustifiable as the federal petroleum minister had already claimed that no gas load-shedding was being carried out anywhere in the country.

Shah lamented that commuters in Karachi had been facing severe hardships due to virtual unavailability of public transport vehicles as they all used gas as fuel which was not available at the CNG stations.

The transport minister contended that people of Sindh should not be made to suffer on account of unavailability of gas as the province produced a majority volume of natural gas in the country. Shah expressed fear that if the halt in gas supply persisted, industrial units in the city would be forced to shut down.

Shah also requested the Supreme Court to take notice of the curtailment of gas supply to Sindh. He appealed to the federal government to immediately withdraw its decision to stop gas supply to the CNG stations for the sake of transportation needs of the people of Karachi.

Assembly resolution

Meanwhile, a Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) lawmaker in the Sindh Assembly submitted a resolution on Wednesday to the assembly secretariat against the halt in gas supply to the residents of the province.

“Whereas, 71% of total production of natural gas is being produced by Sindh, the supply of same [has been] stopped for [indefinite] period by [the] federal government,” reads the resolution submitted by GDA MPA Nand Kumar Goklani.

“This House recommends and resolves that Government of Sindh approaches the Federal Government and demands [that] it continue supply of gas to houses, CNG stations, power plants, and industries in the whole province,” the resolution reads.