Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum calls off due to absence of the concerned minister

ISLAMABAD, May 02 (SABAH): The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum on Tuesday was called off due to absence of the concerned minister. The Senate Committee which met under the chairmanship of Senator Mohammad Abdul Qadir at Parliament House. The committee 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. Senator Aon Abbass while endorsing the view point raised by Senator Fida Muhammad compelled into an heated argument with the Secretary Petroleum and consequently the members walked out. 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, 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 of the committee are non cooperative. She said that committee meetings are above party lines and we should change this precedence and continue this meeting in the best Public Interest. 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 500 rps 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.

The meeting was attended by Senators Fida Muhammad, Aon Abbass, Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai, Engr Rukhsana Zuberi, Saadia aabhasi and Senator Shammim Afridi. Officials from other concerned departments were also in attendance.