March 11, 2006	Saturday	Safar 10, 1427

ISLAMABAD, March 10: The Inter-Ministerial Committee will shortly submit a draft LPG Policy 2006 to the cabinet for approval. This was decided in the second meeting of the committee headed by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Amanullah Khan Jadoon held here on Friday. Minister of industries and adviser to prime minister on energy among others also attended the meeting.

It was decided that the recommendations of the meeting would be formulated in the draft policy, which would be submitted to the cabinet for approval.

An official announcement said that the meeting was told that the current production of 1,600 tons of LPG per day was insufficient to meet the demand of about 4,000 tons and steps were needed to enhance indigenous production and import of the fuel.

It was observed that following de-regulation of petroleum sector, the LPG industry registered 11.9pc domestic and 11.6pc commercial growth. The marketing companies operating in the country also increased from 16 to 42.

The meeting emphasized on Ogra to take strict action against the elements involved in LPG decanting menace and in creating artificial shortage of this fuel in winter season.