ISLAMABAD, March 22: The cabinet committee on regulatory bodies on Wednesday directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to take notice of high-valued bills of gas during the current month and submit a report to the prime minister next week after a probe.

A committee meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, reviewed here on Wednesday the performance of regulatory bodies.

The prime minister directed that the regulatory bodies should redress public complaints on priority and advised them to introduce a culture of listening to people problems.

The cabinet committee directed Ogra to streamline the process of granting licenses for LPG and CNG. All licenses should be issued in line with pre-determined time-line and no discretionary delays would be permitted.

The body also reviewed the development of telecom sector. The committee was informed that after the introduction of mobile cellular policy in January 2004, connections had increased from four million to 25 million in the country. Twenty-five thousand villages now have telephone facility through mobile, fixed and local loop wireless services.

The committee approved a plan to start the process of auctioning the licenses for 3G (Third Generation) network, which will enable the phone companies to provide broadband connectivity, TV picture transmission and multi-media services through mobile handsets.—PPI