Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, acting on the suo moto notice pertaining to exorbitant increase in gas tariff for domestic consumers, on Monday directed the Ministry of Petroleum to submit the gas pricing formula within two weeks.
Managing Director Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Abdul Rasheed Lone admitted of substantial increase in gas tariff since July 1. PAC Chairman Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who was heading the committee, summoned the officials of the Petroleum Ministry and SNGPL for explanation.
He was of the view that the utility companies had been recovering all their losses, line and others, by charging the consumers instead of improving their service quality.
The PAC Chairman observed that the committee would not allow the gas companies to play havoc with poor segment of the society, and directed the Petroleum Ministry to submit the formula on the basis of which gas tariff was being worked out. The formula must be presented before the committee within two weeks, he said.
The committee members criticised the gas companies over substantial increase in gas tariff, putting extra burden on poverty-stricken people. The PAC Chairman said the gas became so expensive that people would either cut their connections or start stealing it.
He said there were serious flaws in the gas pricing mechanism. "I wanted to refer the matter to the standing committee, but it is still not functional," he observed.
The other members, including Riaz Hussain Pirzada and Nadeem Afzal Chan, said people were criticising the elected representatives for exorbitant gas bills, but actually the gas companies were responsible for the sorry state of affairs.
The committee reacted sharply when it came to know that an amount of Rs 33 billion was offered as cross subsidy to industries and the money was being generated by putting extra burden on domestic consumers. Chaudry Nisar said that the report would then be referred to the financial expert of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for reviewing the real impact of the new price mechanism.
Moreover, the committee directed the gas companies to carry out in-depth analysis to look into the complaints of excessive-billing and submit the report within one month. Meanwhile, the PAC settled the appropriation accounts of Establishment Division, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Ministry of Science and Technology for 2005-06.
It also briefly discussed an audit report regarding Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) that revealed that 57 per cent of the total allocation to the foundation was spent on administrative functions. The meeting was attended by Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Yasmeen Rehman, Zahid Hamid, Hamid Yar Hiraj, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Rukhsana Bangash and Asia Nasir.
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