ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: After letting out acerbic remarks against each other in absentia last week, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Chairman Saeed Ahmad Khan exchanged barbs again on Thursday during a meeting of a parliamentary committee.

The PM’s adviser had urged parliament to abolish the ‘redundant’ regulator to stave off the country’s bankruptcy while the Ogra chief described it as part of a campaign to punish the regulator for its refusal to condone inefficiency and losses of gas utilities.

Accusing the Ogra chairman of being unaware of financial matters, Dr Asim informed the meeting of the National Assembly’s standing committee on petroleum and natural resources, presided over by Engineer Tariq Khan Khattak, that the regulator had led the two gas utilities – Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) -- to a stage where they were not in a position to pay salary to their staff because the companies did not have even Rs500,000 in their accounts.

He said the two companies did not have the funds to complete gas connection schemes ordered by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on the recommendations of the National Assembly. The adviser accused Ogra of causing irreversible losses to the two gas companies, adding that the utilities would not be in a position to remain afloat after June.

He said the gas companies were facing the major challenge of gas theft, but Ogra whose responsibility was to curb it had failed to do so. The regulator was not allowing the companies to recover from consumers the impact of theft and losses of gas due to acts of sabotage and un-metered gas.

Ogra chief Saeed Khan informed the committee that the regulator was performing its functions in accordance with the Ogra ordinance. He contested the adviser’s contention that controlling gas theft was the regulator’s domain and said it was the responsibility of gas companies which had failed to meet the benchmark for loss reduction agreed to with the regulator.

He said the regulator had allowed recovery of certain losses which was permissible under the law and if Dr Asim wanted to get Ogra disbanded, nobody could stop him but it should be kept in mind that strengthening of regulators was a prime objective of governments throughout the world.

Mr Khan said he had served the government as a civil servant for 35 years and it was unbecoming of the adviser to criticise him at all forums. “I am also a respectable person and he (the adviser) should show respect for others.”

He challenged the adviser’s assessment about the two gas companies’ financial health, contending that had the situation been so bleak, they would not have announced a dividend of 25 per cent.

Dr Asim said the gas companies had declared profits and dividends only on books; in fact they did not have the money forshareholders or to pay salary to their staff.

He said he had written a letter to the prime minister for a Rs7 billion soft loan for SSGC to provide return on investments to investors.