Key officials of the energy ministry drew ire of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday after they failed to provide exact figures about the annual production and consumption of gas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.
PAC Chairman Rana Tanveer and other members of the committee were flabbergasted when the top officials of the ministry kept evading the simplest of the questions from the members, when they discussed the audit paras of the Petroleum Division and report of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) for 2019-20.
Since it appeared to be the day of keeping the exact figures hidden, the officials did not even disclose their exact salaries despite being asked by the PAC chairman. Their answers ranged from “it’s good enough” to “I will have to check” and “don’t exactly know because it is directly deposited in the bank”.
Tanveer regretted that there was no improvement despite being given higher salaries and packages to the officials. “Even the white elephants hired by the ministry couldn’t solve issues facing the energy sector and masses,” he lamented.
The secretary candidly admitted that the financial affairs of the energy sector were not good but stressed that things were being improved.
