Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar wrote a letter to interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday, raising the issue of gas loadshedding in the province.

Baqar stated that the province was not getting its due right on gas under Article 158 (priority of requirements of natural gas) of the Constitution. He reminded the PM that the province in which a well-head of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of the country under the 1973 Constitution.

He added that all the industrial zones of Sindh were facing severe gas shortage. Baqar said that Sindh produced 65% of the country’s total gas, despite that, the fuel was being supplied at very low pressure in the remaining days of the week, apart from the complete shutdown of gas for two days in a week.

The caretaker Sindh CM said that industrial and business activities in the province have been affected due to gas loadshedding.

The business community was demanding uninterrupted supply of gas with full pressure, he said and added that there was no positive response from the authorities concerned.

The letter has been written a couple of weeks after Karachi industrialists observed shutdown strike over exorbitant increase in gas prices, closing all seven industrial zones in the city.

It merits here to mention that in October the federal government notified a hike of up to 172% in gas prices. Consumers who use less than 0.9hm3 gas per month and make up 57% of total consumers will have to pay fixed charges of Rs400.

Fixed charges for consumers using 1.5hm3 have been raised to Rs1,000 while charges for those using up to 4hm3 have been raised to 2,000.