KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly session on Tuesday was marred by uproar and chaos as opposition and treasury members exchanged heated arguments when Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh told the house that the entire province was facing severe gas crisis due to “incompetency and inefficiency” of the federal government that was bent upon plundering the province’s resources.

He was still giving a policy statement on the matter of public importance when members of opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rose to interrupt him with heated remarks and slogans.

Other opposition members belonging to the Grand Democratic Alliance and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan also joined them as the members from the treasury benches paid the PTI members in the same coin.

Speaker prorogues the session amid rumpus by both opposition and treasury members

While the minister was still on his feet, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, after his failed attempts to calm down the agitating members from the two sides, finally prorogued the session as the house echoed with slogans “go Bilawal go, go Zardari go” and “go Niazi go” and loud jibes by the opposition and treasury members at each other.

Sindh largest gas producer

Minister Sheikh, who was allowed to make a policy statement on the gas shortage in the province, vehemently criticised the federal government and said that it was sheer injustice to Sindh that it was not being provided gas.

He said that there was an acute shortage of natural gas in Sindh that was the largest gas producer in the country.

“Sindh produces 2,500 to 2,600 mmfc gas and it needs 1,500 to 1,700 mmfc while hardly 950 to 1,000 mmfc is given to us,” he added.

Coming down heavily on the federal government, he lamented that Sindh, which produced much more gas than its requirement, was not being given due right in violation of the Constitution.

He said under Article 158 of the Constitution the province in which a well-head of natural gas was situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from that well-head, subject to the commitments and obligations as on the commencing day.

Holding the federal government directly responsible for the ongoing gas crisis in the province and in the country, he said that the wrong policies of the centre had pushed the country into a deep crisis.

Sindh advised to purchase LNG

He said that he had contacted the managing director of the Sui Southern Gas Company and complained about the gas shortage in the province. “But, surprisingly he insisted that Sindh is being given due share of the gas,” he added.

The minister said 500 mmfc of Sindh was being given to other parts of the country, while the province was being advised to purchase LNG. “The people of Sindh are being victimised [as] they did not vote for them [PTI],” he added.

He said that thousands of people had been rendered jobless owing to closure of CNG stations.

Mr Sheikh said that Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had also raised the issue with the federal government and in the Council of Common Interests (CCI), but the centre had been violating constitutional provisions for the past two years.

The energy minister also vehemently criticised the opposition members and said that they were disturbing the house while he was making a statement on an issue of public importance.

He asked the opposition members if they were getting gas at their homes and said that they could not deny the persistent gas shortage.

521 ambulances for interior

Earlier, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said that there was no scheme for life insurance for lady health workers working in the province.

Furnishing replies to the queries of members during the assembly’s Question Hour, she said a fixed amount was being deducted from their salaries in lieu of their “group insurance”.

To another question, she said that there was one ventilator-fitted ambulance at the Chandka Medical College Hospital Larkana.

Replying to a question asked by Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s Syed Abdur Rasheed, she said average number of patients at the Lyari General Hospital on a daily basis was around 4,500.

She said consultancy services, medicines, pathological laboratory services, X-ray, ultrasound and day-care services were provided to the OPD patients free of cost.

The minister said that the intensive care unit (ICU) ward at the Civil Hospital Mithi was not established yet.

To a supplementary question, she said that ICUs could not be established at the district hospital due to Covid-19 situation. “I don’t have a magic wand to establish ICU in every hospital,” she added.

To a verbal question, she said there were 521 ambulances in interior parts of the province.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2020