28 April 2005	Thursday	18 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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KOHAT, April 27: Nazims of three districts have threatened to jointly launched an agitation if the royalty of gas discovered in Kohat and Karak was not provided to local governments and warned of dire consequences if the federal minister for petroleum and natural resources failed this time to formally announce provision of facility to the southern areas of the NWFP as promised.

The Nazims said at a press conference here on Wednesday that the Karak district government had given a deadline of April 28 for the supply of gas to the area but the date was extended after the federal minister for petroleum and natural resources assured them that their demand would be met by May 9.

The nazims of Kohat, Hangu and Karak regretted that gas reserves found in Gurguri were more than that of Sui and were enough to be exported to neighbouring countries after meeting the local demand but even areas in close proximity had been denied the facility.

They said that the government by constantly refusing to provide gas, especially to Karak and Hangu and southern districts, was doing a great injustice with the people of these areas, which would not be tolerated at any cost.

Malik Asad, Kohat district nazim, in his speech said that earlier Kohat was being provided gas from Jand in Attock district of the Punjab but now after the discovery of gas in Shakardarra the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited through a strange arrangement started supplying gas to Punjab via the same pipeline through which Kohat was being fed.

He explained that 20 per cent of the gas from Shakardarra was being supplied to Kohat whereas 80 per cent was passed on to the Chanda oilfields, Jand, from where it was distributed to many parts of Punjab.

He said that the gas reservoirs discovered from Gurguri and Shakardarra were equivalent of the gas so far discovered in the whole country.

Giving details about the initial production from these two gas-producing sites out of a total of 13 where gas had been found, he said that from Shakardarra and Gurguri worth Rs10 million and Rs70 million gas respectively was being supplied to Punjab daily. This was in addition to production of thousands of barrels of oil daily. But it was unfortunate that the local people had been refused to benefit from the facility.

He vowed to resist the usurping of the rights of the local people by the federal government as it had done in Sui and go to any extent to get due share of the districts and the province.

The Karak nazim, Mohammad Sharif Khattak, said that they had been appealing to the federal government for the last one and a half years to provide gas from the local fields to their area first. But all requests had fallen on deaf ears.

He said that the management of private drilling companies had been constantly refusing to employ local skilled and non-skilled people in violation of the agreement reached with them early last year which had further enraged the people who could now go to any extent to get their rights.

He said that the SNGPL did not care for the orders of the chief executive of the province who during his recent visit had ordered that a complete survey be carried out for supplying gas to Karak and a job quota be fixed for the local people.

Mr Khattak said that the NWFP government had demanded Rs5 billion from the federal government for supplying gas to the six districts of the southern areas.

He said that the Punjab bureaucracy was trying to create a situation like 1971 by denying the smaller provinces their own share.

He expressed astonishment that the prime minister of the country was not aware of the huge discoveries made in the area and wondered as to how the people of the NWFP could expect the federal government sanctioning funds for the provision of facility.

The district nazim Hangu, Pir Haider Ali Shah, in his brief speech said that the people in his area and adjoining tribal areas used wood for cooking and heating purposes and if gas was provided to them then precious forests could be saved from further devastation.