The commercial loans against Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) have crossed Rs 90 billion while the company has to receive outstanding dues of multibillion rupees from various consumers. This was stated by Sikandar Sultan Raja, Federal Secretary for Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), while briefing the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament here on Tuesday.
The meeting was chaired by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah to discuss audit paras related to Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division). Sikandar Sultan Raja said that SSGCL had cut off gas supply to Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in 2015 after outstanding gas dues against the steel mills crossed over Rs 20 billion.
The panel was informed by the audit officials that commercial loans of SSGCL have reached to the tune of over Rs 90 billion. Moreover billions of rupees outstanding dues of the SSGCL are outstanding against K-Electric, Pakistan Steels Mills (PSM) and Defense Housing Authority (DHA), the secretary informed the panel, adding that K-Electric is only paying current bills to SSGCL. He further said that gas bill recovery issue of DHA is pending in the court.
The committee asked the secretary what the actual amount of circular debt is and what measures the authorities have taken to resolve the matter. The meeting was informed by the audit officials that some 170 employees were recruited with fake degrees in the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
Managing Director OGDCL briefing the panel on the subject said that the company has over 15,000 workers and the administration had initiated an action against those with fake and bogus degrees as per law. The MD OGDCL said that 46 officials with fake degrees were dismissed from service, 18 were demoted and 5 were forced to retire. He said those with bogus degrees have been terminated from services, while those having degrees from unregistered institutions were demoted.
The panel directed OGDCL officials not to deprive poor people of their jobs, saying that hundreds of unregistered educational institutions are operating across the country with claims of affiliation with not only local universities but also with top foreign universities. The panel said such institutions are trapping the youth and after completion of their degrees/diplomas they apply for jobs, and that is when they face serious problems; therefore the issue of non-functioning agencies must be addressed first before inducting people with unrecognized degrees.
Audit officials said that officials appointed on fake and bogus degrees caused Rs 56.5 million loss to OGDCL. He said some contractors hired by OGDCL purchased substandard chemicals worth Rs 7.82 billion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for oil exploration. He said that some the contracts had been rescinded due to the use of substandard chemical material for oil exploration.
Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah remarked that circular debt may have crossed Rs 500 billion mark, adding that the future government will also face the problem in paying off the colossal circular debt and directed the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) to present a detailed report on SSGCL's commercial loans and outstanding dues against various consumers to the committee within two weeks.
The officials of Auditor General of Pakistan informed the committee that Hydrocarbon Institute had to bear the expenses of Rs 370 million on the annual inspection fee in the year 2016-17. Later, talking to media men, opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah called for joint session of Parliament to discuss the latest incidents of terrorism and law and order situation in different parts of the country.
He said it is need of the hour that a joint session of Parliament should be held to ascertain the causes of increasing terrorist attacks, including the attack on a church in Quetta. He hailed Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa for attending a meeting in the Senate and said it proves that everybody is on the same page in defeating terrorism.
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