Sindh govt responsible for gas shortage: Omar Ayub

Karachi, Feb 07: Federal minister for energy Omar Ayub Khan has said the Sindh government, itself, is responsible the gas shortage.

According to details, federal minister Omar Ayub paid a visit to the residence of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Vice President and parliamentary party leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh to attend a reception in his honor. Special assistant of Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Baber also accompanied him.

PTI MPAs and leaders Dr Saeed Afridi, Bilal Ghafar, Abbas Jaffri, Kareem Bux Gabol, Shehzad Farooqui, Rabistan Khan, Shahnawaz Jadon, Adeel Ahmed, Sanjay Gangwani, Mehmood Molvi, Ashraf Qureshi, Naeem Adil Sheikh, Hunaid Lakhani, Arshad Javed and others were also present.

Talking on the occasion, Omar Ayub said by the year 2025, 80000 megawatt energy would be added to the system. He said the Sindh government did not give right of way for gas pipeline which resulted in gas shortage. He said it is totally wrong that the gas share of Sindh is being given to other provinces. He said in Sindh 2000 mmcf gas is produced and of this the PPP government during its tenure had given 500 mmcf gas to Sui Northern. He said from this gas 250 mmcf gas is taken back and given to power plants. He said during last 10 years new gas wells were not dug up during the governments of PPP and PML-N. He said we have started the process of digging up wells to discover gas.

He said the Sindh government itself is responsible for gas shortage. Had it given the right of way timely, the gas pressure problems would not have been faced. He said during the governments of PPP and PML-N there was more load shedding. He said the PTI government during last Ramzan overcame the load shedding problem. He said projects to produce costly electricity were installed during previous governments and resultantly the tariff of electricity increased. He said this government is closing down these costly projects.

Omar Ayub Khan said the Sindh government is not cooperating with the federal government. He said a wind power plant of 200 megawatts would be installed in Sindh. He said we will expose the corruption of PPP.

He said the mission of Prime Minister is to give basic facilities to people. He said NEPRA has already taken action against the KE. He said the people of Karachi have elected the PTI and Prime Minister Imran Khan fully supports the genuine demands of people of Karachi. He said our war against corruption mafias would continue. He said in Pakistan load shedding has already been ended on 80 percent feeders. He said action would be continued against electricity thieves.

On the occasion, Haleem Adil Sheikh said that we often hear the blame of Sindh government that the gas of this province is given to other provinces. He said these blames are baseless, but the fact is that the government of Sindh is not serious to resolve the basis issues of masses. It is only busy in blame game. He said our energy ministry is working in an efficient manner. He said Raja Rental and such other mafias would never come in power in Pakistan again. He said Omar Ayub belongs to a great family and we are grateful that he has paid visit to Karachi.