ISLAMABAD-Owing to the continues absence of the Minister of State for Petroleum Musaddiq Malik and exchange of hot words between senators and the Petroleum Secretary, meeting of the Senate Committee on Petroleum has been called off.
Meeting of Senate committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Mohammad Abdul Qadir, commenced with the briefing on the Bill titled “ The Petroleum (Amendment) Bill, 2022”. During the briefing, Senator Fida Muhammad raised point on the repetitive absence of the minister. Where is the Minister of Petroleum? Senator Fida asked. The minister did not come to the last meeting either, he further remarked.
Chairman Committee said that the Minister of Petroleum has sworn not to come to the meeting of the committee. Senator Aon Abbass while endorsing the view point raised by Senator Fida questioned the absence of the MoS. Secretary Petroleum said that the minister wants to come to the petroleum committee meeting in the absence of officers. However, the secretary was confronted by Aon Abbas who asked that what happened is that all the members are present and the minister is sitting alone, Senater Aon Abbas asked Secretary Petroleum.
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“I am not answering you, I am not answerable to you,” Secretary Petroleum remarked. While defending his stance, Secretary Petroleum said: “I have answered under Rules of Business”. We bureaucrats do not come here to get humiliated,” he added. “We respect politicians, they should also show respect,” the secretary said. Senators including Prince Umar, Fida Muhammad and Senter Shamim Afridi walked out from the meeting on the remarks of Secretary Petroleum. The minister of state wants a meeting with the members including the chairman to participate in the committee meeting, Secretary Petroleum said.
How can it be possible that they want a meeting apart from the committee, Aon Abbas said. “I have informed his reply to the committee chair,” secretary replied. However, Aon Abbas said that you are answerable to the committee and to me as well. Chairman committee said that he is Minister of State and wants a meeting regarding participation in the meeting as Minister of State. “I had a talk with him, he might want to discuss this,” the chairman further elaborated. The members of the committee expressed indignation on the words of Secretary Petroleum. Senators Aon Abbas, Shamim Afridi and Fida Muhammad walked out in protest from the committee meeting.
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The chairman committee tried to convince the members who walked out, but the meeting was called off after a short interlude. Senator Rukhsana Zuberi was of the view that meetings are being cancelled and called off, on the same reason time and again and she said that it has now become a norm to call off meetings like this. Either the ministers are absent causing bills to remain pending or the members committee are non cooperative.
Senator Rukhsana Zuberi insisted that the meeting should continue, however the chairman committee decided to call off the meeting as a token of respect for his fellow members. Consequently the meeting was postponed. Earlier, in the meeting the committee was briefed on “The Petroleum (Amendment) Bill, 2022. The DG explosives briefed the committee that through this bill, “Dangerous Petroleum has been classified into 4 degrees as per the international standards wherein petroleum class A means having flash points below 24 degree centigrade and petroleum class B means having flashpoints of 24 degrees centigrade and above but below fifty five degree centigrade; similarly petroleum class C means petroleum having flashpoint of fifty five degree centigrade and above; but below minty three degrees centigrade and “excluded petroleum” means petroleum having flashpoint of ninety three degrees centigrade and above. It was also briefed that illegal sale of petroleum means sale of petroleum products without having a valid storage license granted under this act. The officials also briefed that the punishable fine which was Rs 500 previously has been revised as equal to license fee or as determined by the federal government from time to time. Similarly the repetition the offence has been amended by two times the license fee. The matter was deferred for further deliberation.
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