Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has asked the MQM-P and GDA lawmakers to support the provincial government’s demand for more gas supply to the province. The MQM-P and GDA should side with the Sindh government over the gas crisis, CM Shah said, while speaking in the Sindh Assembly. He demanded the federal government provide the province 1,600MMCFD (million cubic feet a day) gas. Sindh reportedly receives 1,000MMCFD gas from the federation at present.In Dec 2020, the Sindh CM had asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to direct the Petroleum Division to allocate 1,600MMCFD gas to Sindh. The province produced 68% of the total natural gas but it was still facing a gas shortage, he had said in his letter.Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the Article 158 clearly states that the gas-producing province would have the first right to it Fearing a serious crisis in near future and untoward situation in the province, especially in Karachi due to the persistent gas shortage, Murad Ali last monthin a letter to the prime ministerdemanded that the PM direct the petroleum division of the federal energy ministry to immediately allocate at least 1,500 to 1,600 MMCFD (million cubic feet a day) gas to the province. The Chief Minister wrote that the “callous and negligent” attitude of the federal government hit the people of Sindh hardest this winter. “I, therefore, fear an untoward situation in the province especially in the city of Karachi,” he apprehended. Inviting the PM’s attention to the “extremely short supply of the natural gas to the consumers” in the province, Mr Shah said it was unfortunate that the province, which produced over 68 per cent of the total natural gas produced in the country, had been facing a situation where homes were without gas to cook food and industries were shutting down because of the huge shortage and low gas pressure.
