News
Gas pilferers to get heavy penalties, Senate body told
By Ahmad Ahmadani
ISLAMABAD: Immensely perturbed over the alleged connivance of employees of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in gas theft, a Senate body on Monday postponed the passage of a bill concerning gas theft control and recovery till its next meeting.
The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources met under the chair of Senator Muhammad Yusuf to review the losses incurred by the state exchequer that surfaced only because of the supply of petroleum products (POL) to the neighbouring Afghanistan. Also, the gas theft bill, 2014, remained under discussion during the meeting.
Giving details of the gas theft control and recovery bill to the Senate body, Petroleum Secretary Abid Saeed said gas thieves would find heavy penalties while informers would get five percent of the recovered amount. Similarly, he added, courts had already been established for theft cases in Punjab province.
SNGPL Managing Director Arif Hameed told the body that a case involving gas theft of nearly Rs900 million had surfaced in a factory in Lahore city and that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had initiated an action against the paper mill.
He said that around 900 cases of gas theft totalling Rs4.5 billion had been detected. He said the gas utility had purchased special radars to control gas theft and that gas thieves were being arrested using these radars.
Raising serious concerns over the ballooning gas theft in the jurisdiction of SNGPL, Senate body chairman Senator Muhammad Yusuf said that some SNGPL employees had constituted a mafia and gas theft was continuing only because of the alleged connivance of SNGPL staff.
Abdul Nabi Bangash, a committee member, deplored that although gas theft of Rs900 million was detected, not a single penny was recovered from the ‘influential’ thief. “Give us commission, we would ensure recovery of outstanding dues,” he said. He also criticised the SNGPL over the increasing cases of gas stealing.
Upon this, an annoyed SNGPL managing director informed the Senate body that Rs3 billion had been recovered, as Rs12 billion worth gas theft was detected from January 2013 till date.
Senator Hamza complained that electricity generators were being run through commercial connections of gas across Faisalabad. Replying to the complaint of Hamza, the SNGPL managing director said that use of gas for generators was illegal while there was a need to jack up the tariff for industrial, commercial and captive power plants.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk