ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Pakistan Peoples Party on Friday blocked parliamentary proceedings on two government bills dealing with natural gas-related revenue adjustments amid the latest political bickering in the ruling coalition over recent elections in Azad Kashmir and discourse on the proposed creation of new provinces.
At a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Petroleum, presided over by PPP’s Syed Mustafa Mehmood, lawmaker and former federal minister for petroleum and finance Syed Naveed Qamar asked the panel at the outset not to discuss the Natural Gas (Development Surcharge) Amendment Bill and the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) Amendment Bill.
NA body defers GIDC, gas development surcharge bills
The Petroleum Division had proposed the GIDC bill to expand the scope of GIDC funds’ utilisation for strategic oil and gas reserves from its existing specific mandate of developing Pakistan-Iran, Turkmenistan-Pakistan and cross-country gas pipelines. About Rs295 billion remains unutilised in the public kitty, while more than Rs400bn collected by fertiliser companies from consumers remains outside the national exchequer because of legal issues.
Outside the meeting, Mr Qamar told reporters that the PPP was not a coalition partner but had been supporting the government and that the relationship could not be carried forward unilaterally forever. He said his party had conveyed certain reservations to the government which, if it required PPP’s support, it had to resolve. These complaints related to AJK elections, appointment of judges and other matters.
He said the government had promised to look into those issues but had not shown any progress. Therefore, the PPP had decided that it would not support the government until tangible progress was seen.
He said the government had tried to bulldoze a bill through the interior panel a day earlier. He said the Islamabad Local Government Bill was unacceptable even otherwise and the PPP had filed a dissenting note. “The government needs to resolve these issues and take steps,” he said, adding that the law minister was abroad and it was unclear where he was active these days.
Committee Chairman Mustafa Mehmood said cheap gas should not be provided to fertiliser companies if the benefit did not reach the farmer. The committee then decided to defer both bills.
