MCCI rejects raise in gas tariff

MULTAN: Unilateral increase in gas tariff through raise in cess was a sheer injustice and it is downright robbery and would further lift up inflation to alarming levels,” we oppose it and reject the unjust decision of the Gas company, said Mian Anis’A Sheikh President of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in a press statement issued here on Tuesday.

He said that MCCI took a strong exception to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) decision making around 15-percent increase in gas tariff without any prior notice to the industry and said this decision would cost devastating repercussions for local industry apart from ousting the export-oriented industries from the international export market.

MCCI President Anis’A Sheikh said here on Tuesday that the raise incorporated in the industrial gas bills for the month of July had created multiple problems for the industrialists as the authorities kept them in the darkness about the hike, resultantly they could not include it into their cost, he added.

According to him, the government functionaries or ministers always vow to take the private sector on board on all future decisions but it was very unfortunate this time they did not bother to even consult the MCCI, APBUMA, APTMA or any other sector-specific association while jacking up the gas tariff. The impact of this increase would be much bigger than the expectation of the government who should avoid any such decision keeping in view the economic scenario in the country.

This decision, he said, would hit the export-oriented value added sector which was already hard pressed due to loadshedding and high cost of production.