Sindh govt itself responsible for gas shortage: minister

SUKKUR: Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan has said the Sindh government itself is responsible for the gas shortages in the province. Federal Minister Omar Ayub on Friday paid a visit to the residence of PTI Vice President and parliamentary party leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh to attend a reception in his honor. Special Assistant of Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar also accompanied him.

PTI MPAs and leaders Dr Saeed Afridi, Bilal Ghafar, Abbas Jaffri, Kareem Bux Gabol, Shehzad Farooqui, Rabistan Khan, Shahnawaz Jadon, Adeel Ahmed, Sanjay Gangwani, Mehmood Molvi, Ashraf Qureshi, Naeem Adil Sheikh, Hunaid Lakhani, Arshad Javed and others were also present.

Talking on the occasion, Omar Ayub said by the year 2025, 8,000 megawatt energy would be added to the system. He said the Sindh government did not give the right of way for gas pipeline, which resulted in gas shortage. He said it is totally wrong that the gas share of Sindh is being given to other provinces. He said in Sindh, 2,000mmcf gas is produced and of this, the PPP government during its tenure had given 500mmcf gas to Sui Northern. He said from this gas, 250mmcf gas is taken back and given to power plants. He said during the last 10 years, new gas wells were not dug up during the governments of PPP and PML-N. "We have started the process of digging up wells to discover gas."

He said the Sindh government itself is responsible for gas shortage. Had it given the right of way timely, the gas pressure problems would not have been faced. He said during the governments of PPP and PML-N, there was more loadshedding. He said the PTI government during last Ramzan overcame the loadshedding problem. He said projects to produce costly electricity were installed during the tenure of previous governments and as a result the tariff of electricity increased. This government is closing down these costly projects, he said. Omar Ayub Khan said the Sindh government is not cooperating with the federal government. He said a wind power plant of 200 megawatts would be installed in Sindh. “We will expose the corruption of PPP.”

He said the mission of the prime minister is to give basic facilities to people. He said NEPRA has already taken action against the KE. He said the people of Karachi have elected the PTI and Prime Minister Imran Khan fully supports the genuine demands of the people of Karachi. He said our war against corruption mafias would continue. In Pakistan loadshedding has already been ended on 80 percent feeders. He said action would be continued against electricity thieves.

On the occasion, Haleem Adil Sheikh said that we often hear the blame of Sindh government that the gas of this province is given to other provinces. He said these claims are baseless, but the fact is that the government of Sindh is not serious to resolve the basic issues of masses. “It is only busy in blame game.” He said the energy ministry is working in an efficient manner. “Raja Rental and such other mafias would never come in power in Pakistan again.” He added Omar Ayub belongs to a great family and we are grateful that he has paid visit to Karachi.