KOHAT, June 10: The Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) in violation of the original plan approved by the federal government, has decided to supply gas from the Shakardarra Oil and Gas Fields (SOGF) to Isaa Khel and Sikandarabad in Punjab instead of the southern districts of the NWFP, Dawn has learnt from official sources.

After the discovery of vast reservoirs of gas and oil about four years ago in Shakardarra, 70km southwest of the Kohat district, the provincial government was assured by the then federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, Nisar Ali Khan, that gas from the SOGF would be supplied only to the southern districts, including, Karak, Bannu and Lakki Marwat, and to the tribal areas in which forests were being criminally destroyed for heating and cooking.

A proposal was also under study at that time to establish the third oil refinery of the country in Kohat because huge oil reserves had been discovered at four sites in the area.

With the oil refinery project shelved for unknown reasons, the sources said, the OGDC had decided in principle to lay a pipeline between the SOGF and Punjab, doing what they called injustice with the local people by violating the decision made four years ago.

Meanwhile, the OGDC also backed out of its promise to supply water to the area from the Indus River for which it had allocated five million rupees some five years ago.

The corporation assured three successive governors, who hailed from the area, during the last two years that it would lay a water pipeline in the barren land for the benefit of the residents and for its own use, but failed to fulfil its promise. Now two water tankers bring water from far-flung areas, but it is not a permanent solution to the problem.

A former MNA from Kohat, Javed Ibraheem Paracha, while criticizing the decision, demanded that the original development plan be implemented by the OGDC to provide gas to the underdeveloped southern districts of the Frontier.

He warned that the people would not allow the OGDC to usurp their rights anymore and would take whatever action was necessary to stop gas supply from their area to Punjab.

He also demanded that the OGDC lay the water pipeline between the Indus and Shakardarra as promised in return for occupying the land of the people.

Mr Paracha said five million rupees had twice been allocated for the water pipeline project, but the bureaucracy dominated by Punjabi officials in the OGDC did not want to spend the money on the project.