PESHAWAR - The business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has voiced concern over charging the industrial consumers with a rate of Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) on additional consumption of gas against the approved load.

They asked the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) management to intact with old rates for the entire consumption of gas.

“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is producing surplus natural gas, and that’s why has the right to first fully utilise its indigenous natural resources under Article 158 of the constitution,” said Faiz Muhammad, the President of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI). He was speaking during a news conference at the chamber house on Saturday. But reality is beyond the ground situations, because the gas producing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is being supplied to Punjab, he added.

He also lamented that industrial consumers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were charged with a rate of Re-gasified Liquefied Gas (RLNG) on additional consumption of gas, despite sufficient production of the gas in the province. Hayatabad Industrialists’ Association President, Zarak Khan, President of Haripur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Attaur Rahman, Engn Saad Zahid, and a number of industrialists, traders were present in the press conference.

The SCCI chief asked the SNGPL management to first fulfill the requirement of domestic, commercial and industrial consumers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on priority basis from the locally produced natural gas, then supply it to other provinces on availability of the commodity.

Zarak Khan on the occasion said that Rs800 is being charged from industrial units, while if additional gas was used against their approved load, then the RLNG rate of Rs1400 are imposed on them, which he termed injustice and an anti-industry step. He added the hardly revived industry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would again be closed down with such steps, if the practice of charging industrial consumers with RLNG on additional gas consumption.

The association president urged if relief to industrialists is not possible then at-least the constitutional right should be given to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He urged the authorities concerned to charge the industrial consumers with old gas rates to keep flourishing the industries in the province, which generate employment to people along-with contributing in the national economy.

Besides, the SCCI chief said the issue of low gas pressure in Hayatabad Industrial Estate has also curtailed the industrial productivity, causing huge financial losses to factories. He also complained that Employees Protection Agency (EPA) for unwarranted raids on the industrial units, which causing the closure of the industry in the province, and urged the EPA to frame a business and industrial friendly policy.