KARACHI: Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh told a session of the Sindh Assembly here on Tuesday that the province was left with only 12 years of gas reserves. On the issue of gas shortage in the province, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah slammed the federal government and asked the GDA and PTI legislators to quit the cabinet in centre for the sake of Sindh's people.

He held the PTI government responsible for the "deteriorating financial state of the industrialists", saying that Sindh had gas available with itself and it was its right to provide its industries with gas. The chief minister alleged that the federal government was usurping the province's right to the first use of natural resources.

Citing Article 158 of the Constitution, he said, "We have written that the federal government's policies are not as per the law."

During the question session, Imtiaz Shaikh said, "Sindh's gas is being usurped." He said that the province's oil reservoirs were also gradually declining. Imtiaz Shaikh said that the Sui Northern was being supplied with Sindh's gas lines.

The underground stocks of oil would not last more than 15 to 20 years as well, he said and added that the federal government was the regulator of oil and gas. Imtiaz Shaikh said that the right to first use of the natural resources as per the Constitution belonged to the province that had those natural resources.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021