Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, presiding over a meeting on gas shortage in Sindh, has directed the provincial Energy Department to prepare a ‘Sindh case’ under Article 158 of the constitution to take it up with the federal government.
The Chief Minister said that the constitution of Pakistan guarantees the provision of natural gas to the people of the province it is produced in. “When the constitution guarantees how the federal government can deprive people of Sindh from the gas being produced from the province,” he said.
Minister Energy, Imtiaz Shaikh, Principal Secretary to CM, Sajid Jamal Abro, and Secretary Energy, Tariq Shah, attended the meeting.
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He also said that the federal government formulated a defective policy under which other provinces received natural gas at the cost of the people of Sindh. He added that the domestic, industrial, and commercial consumers of Sindh are suffering a lot. Therefore the federal government must be apprised about the chronic situation.
Murad Ali Shah directed the energy department to prepare a proper detailed case of the issue, including total production of gas from Sindh, its distribution formula, the total requirement of Sindh, and net receiving.
It was observed that the gas provided to the national units was counted in the share of the province.
The Chief Minister said,
The industrial units, which were producing fertilizer or electricity, were operating for the whole of the country. Therefore, they should be counted separately.
The Chief Minister said that he would take up the matter with the federal government once the case was prepared. “Currently, not only the industrial consumers are upset with acute gas shortage, but domestic consumers are suffering a lot. They do not have gas to prepare food for their children,” he said.
The meeting was attended by Senior Advisor to CM, Nisar Khuhro, Provincial Ministers, Nasir Shah, and Sohail Anwar Siyal, IG Police, Mushtaq Maher, and PSCM, Sajid Jamal Abro. MNA Khursheed Junejo, party leaders Jameel Soomro, Aijaz Leghari, Commissioner and DIG, DC, and SSP Larkana participated in the meeting through video link.
