Sindh minister warns of winter energy crisis

KARACHI: Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh fears if the federal government failed to find alternative energy resources, the country will have to brace the worst gas crisis in winter.

Addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh said Sindh is the largest gas producing province but the federal government is usurping the provincial rights to allow it to use the commodity first and gives it to others in violation of the Constitution.

The minister said the Sindh government presented cheap alternative energy projects at a meeting of the Council of Common Interests but they were rejected outright and even the minutes of the meeting were changed. Coming down strongly against the federal government, the Sindh provincial minister said the gas tariff has been increased by 350 percent in PTI's last three-year tenure.

Criticising the federal ministers, he said their incompetence, failures and corruption have resulted into a serious gas crisis. He warned of the worst gas crisis in the winter if the federal government is unable to find alternative energy sources.

He said that the government has no control over political and economic crises and now in order to destroy all institutions, the PTI government has started a conflict with the military. Imtiaz Sheikh proposed setting up a national government to hold transparent and fair elections, as a way out of the crises.

He said that the ruling party which was not prepared to take the opposition into confidence has even amended the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance to benefit their own people, but is now frustrated over its failure to function. The provincial energy minister said the massive devaluation of the rupee has further burdened the national exchequer. He termed importing agricultural commodities as an incompetence of the government heading an agricultural country. He claimed that over 18-hour-long loadshedding has landed 220 million people of the country into severe misery. The government has no control over rising inflation and has failed miserably to overcome the flour and sugar crises. Imtiaz Sheikh claimed the international companies are no more ready to invest in Pakistan and the foreign investment is flowing out.