‘Sindh wants only surplus gas supplied to people in upcountry’

Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh has said the province is being provided with 950 to 1,000 MMCFD of natural gas against a demand for 1,600 to 1,700 MMCFD, causing serious energy shortfall during the winter.

Talking to media persons at his office on Wednesday, he said Sindh produced 2,600 to 2,700 MMCFD of natural gas, and its people had the foremost right to consume the natural gas as per Article 158 of the constitution.

He said it was a desire of the Sindh government that additional natural gas, which was surplus to the Sindh’s own requirements, should be supplied to fulfil the energy demands of the people in the upcountry, but only after protecting the constitutional rights of the people of Sindh. The minister said the chief minister in his latest correspondence to the prime minister had stated the facts concerning the energy situation in the province.