OHAT, Feb 25: Most of the tribesmen and residents of urban and suburban areas of the region are still relying on precious wood of the fast denuding forests for warming themselves and their cattle despite presence of gas fields in their close proximity. Besides suburban areas, major villages of Kohat and other southern districts have not been provided natural gas facility despite discovery and commercial supply of oil and gas from the nearby local fields operated by the Oil and Gas Development Company and Hungarian MOL Company. The two companies are selling the essential consignment to the Sui Northern Gas Company Limited since 2005.

According to a report, 300 mmcft (million cubic feet) gas is daily produced from the local fields whereas the total requirement of southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 130 mmcft. The people of this province have the first right on its natural resources.

Former federal law minister Iftikhar Gilani also regretted that the province was being ignored in provision of gas facility, which was tantamount to usurping constitutional and legal rights of the people.

Officials said that still there was no fixed date for provision of gas facility to most of the areas of Kohat, Hangu, Orakzai, Agency, Kurram Agency, Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat. They said that the OGDCL was earning Rs70 billion annually from its oil and gas fields in Kohat alone where it had the fifth largest discovery of oil in the country. The income was being revised after the latest discoveries.

Sources said that these rich companies were legally bound to provide free gas facility in the seven kilometer radius of the reserves, but they had not been ready to extend the facility even within one kilometer radius. Keeping this in view, the residents of Kohat city were entitled to getting free gas from Sheikhan well, but the companies and parliamentarians were politicising the issue for their vested interests.

The OGDCL, Kohat, produces 79 per cent oil and 21 per cent gas from its wells. During the last three years the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received Rs11.5 billion royalty from oil and gas, which included Rs8.5 billion royalty for oil as its market value was much more than gas.

In Kohat, the state-run OGDCL is operating 19 points and it has been paying a nominal Rs2,400 per month per kanal to the owners on whose land the oil and gas wells were discovered. The Hungarian MOL Company gives Rs12,000 per acre to the land owners.

Meanwhile, use of wood for burning has increased in the wake of cold wave triggered by intermittent rains in parts of Kohat for the last one week and snowfall in the adjacent tribal areas.

Tons of wood was being brought by businessmen to the local market and to the houses by women everyday without any check by officials of forest checkposts. Instead, the officials have been extorting wood from dozens of vehicles plying on the route by timber smugglers.

The Hangu district also received rain on Friday, but cold breeze kept blowing as mountains in the adjoining Orakzai Agency were covered with snow from the last over a week.