GUJRAT: A PML-N MNA allegedly hurled threats and abuses at the recovery team of the regional office of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and beat them up when they went to the lawmaker’s brother’s house with a disconnection notice over non-payment of arrears.

However, MNA Nawabzada Mazhar Ali Khan denied the charges and said the SNGPL team had fabricated the story.

SNGPL Regional Manager Kabeer Ahmed told Dawn the recovery team reached Kothi Nawab Sahib compound on Tuesday to disconnect domestic connections of two houses owned by close kin of the MNA inside the compound over non-payment of bills worth Rs114,000 and Rs99, 260.

The team disconnected the connections. However, a man interrupted and forced them to reinstall the meters and assured the team they would pay the outstanding bills within 24 hours. When the team went back the next day, it was told by one of the servants the bill worth Rs114, 000 had been paid. The team inquired about the second bill worth Rs99,000 to be paid by one of the brothers of the MNA.

According to Ahmed, MNA Mazhar who was in his house at the time got furious at the SNGPL team and allegedly hurled abuses and threats at Gull Rizwan, a senior official of the recovery team, besides beating him up for ‘daring to enter his compound’.

The SNGPL employees union lodged a protest against the MNA and warned that they would go on a strike.

When contacted, Mazhar denied the charges and claimed he had not misbehaved with the team nor had he hurled abuses, threats or thrashed any official.

Another recovery team had earlier been roughed up by the guards of the brother of a lawmaker in Phalia tehsil, Mandi Bahauddin district a week ago when the team tried to disconnect the gas connection.

DISCONNECTION: The SNGPL regional office has issued disconnection notices to at least 27 commercial consumers for having multiple connections. The authorities had earlier disconnected around six commercial and domestic connections installed at fan manufacturing units.

Official sources said SNGPL authorities had declared multiple connections at one place illegal and issued notices to consumers utilising them. Now, 27 commercial consumers had been asked to get a single connection before the remaining ones were severed.

According to official data, there were 1,120 commercial and 242 industrial connections, including 107 CNG filling stations, in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts.

Meanwhile, the recovery branch of regional SNGPL office has issued disconnection notice to the provincial government’s official residences in the city. Outstanding amount of Rs2.7 million was pending against different departments, including police, judiciary and district administration, as well as a bill amounting to Rs315,000 from a house owned by a political family for over a year.

Similarly, two popular political families have also not paid outstanding gas bills of their residences in Mandi Bahauddin’s Phalia and Malakwal tehsils.

Published in Dawn December 13th , 2014