Rs122 bn loss on LNG import, gas shortages: PPP senator demands parliamentary inquiry

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan People’s Party in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman on Thursday demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the gas shortages and delay in LNG import that caused a loss of Rs122 billion.

“We are paying a high price for the ineptitude which this government often displays. Just the delay in LNG import has caused us a loss of Rs122 billion. Instead of focusing on making progressive economic policies, the government seems busy in running anti-opposition campaigns,” she said while demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the gas shortages and delay in LNG import that incurred a loss of Rs122 billion.

Senator Sherry Rehman said the prime minister was responsible for his cabinet’s decisions and failures. “We demand a parliamentary inquiry over the delay in the LNG import and gas shortages. The government must be held accountable for this mismanagement,” she said. Slamming the government for gas shortages, the parliamentary leader of the PPP said as if our Rs2,253 circular debt was not enough, now due to govt's incompetence, our circular debt in the gas sector has reached a shocking figure of Rs350 billion.

Questioning the delay in LNG import, the senator said this delay has already caused a great loss to the country. She said gas demand is always high in winter, why were arrangements not made on time.

“Such casual behaviour from the government is just leading to one crisis after another. Why was there a delay in the first place and now why is it being imported on such high rates,” she questioned.

In the meanwhile, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the spokesman to the Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has also demanded a transparent probe into this LNG scandal and said that the LNG scandal was an example of the incapability of this selected government and its corruption. “The nation lost 36 billion rupees just by delay in procurement of LNG this winter. During the last two years, Pakistan lost 122 billion rupees due to mismanagement, corruption and incapacity of this puppet government,” he said in a statement.

Khokhar said that it should be investigated that who is responsible for this loss to the national exchequer. He said that it is ironic that NAB is unable to spot such mega corruption. He said that accountability and NAB in Pakistan are a farce and only a tool of the selected government to victimize the opposition.