September 14, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 13, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: A Senate body has recommended to the government to reduce oil prices in view of the recent decrease in the international market.

The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat and Special Initiatives (cabinet division) met at the Parliament House on Saturday under the chairmanship of Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi.

The committee also asked the government to direct the gas companies to cut line losses and improve efficiency.

The panel directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority to perform its regulatory duties diligently and initiate punitive action against the CNG stations which were overcharging customers.

The chairman underscored the need to formulate a long-term oil and gas policy in view of the fact that the present reserves were going to be depleted within 20 years.

“Economising on present levels of consumption and acceleration of exploratory activities are the two obvious compulsions,” he said.

The meeting urged the government to step up exploratory activities in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country to bridge the growing supply and demand gap.

The members of the committee said that privatisation and deregulation had led to the increase in prices and the basic purpose behind creation of authorities like Nepra and Ogra was to protect the interest of people.

If the authorities, they said, failed to perform their regulatory duties it would be a major setback and blow to people.

Therefore, in order to ensure a healthy competition and with a view to protecting the interests of the consumers, the regulatory authorities must perform diligently and efficiently the duties assigned to them.

The committee asked Ogra to monitor the working of various gas companies and intervene immediately whenever it felt that the interests of the consumers were threatened.

The meeting directed the authority to devise a mechanism for avoiding illegal and inappropriate use of LPG in taxis and auto-rickshaws.

The acting chairman of Ogra informed the meeting that the authority was set up in 2000 under the Natural Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance to regulate natural gas pipelines, transmissions, distributions and sales.

He said the basic objective of the authority was to increase private investment and ownership in the midstream and downstream petroleum industry, protect the public interest while respecting individual rights and to provide effective and efficient regulation.

Senators Abdul Raziq, Abbas Komaili, Dr Mohammad Ali Brohi, Engr Rashid Ahmad Khan, Rehana Yahya Baloch, Fauzia Fakhur-uz-Zaman, Ch Anwar Bhinder and Dr Safdar Ali Abbasi attended the meeting.