Fleecing masses for energy cost

ISLAMABAD - PPP-led fragile coalition government, ever since it took over after the February 18 elections, has been overloading the consumers of petroleum products’ skyrocketing prices in a blindfold manner following the prescription of international financial institutions.
Latest increase of over 14 per cent in the prices of the petroleum products last week was the highest ever hike in the price of oil and gas sector in the history of the country. It was still not the end of the story. The government in the light of various reports and statements has already been trying to indicate that it had to pay billions of rupees to the oil marketing companies as differential of the international and the domestic prices of the petroleum products. According to the reports, the government has still to pay Rs 72 billion to the Oil Marketing Companies under the head of the differential or as the cost of capping the prices against the international oil’s hike. That clearly indicates the government’s intentions to further increase the prices of the petroleum products.
That gives the bottom line that further increase in the prices of the petroleum products was looming large in the days ahead. So far the impact of the previous raises is yet to settle between the various stakeholders of the energy sector. In the absence of any effective regulatory body for the chaotic energy market in the country the masses are left at the mercy of cruel market mechanisms and that too sans any regulation. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) being a toothless watchdog against the ruthless mafia of the oil marketing and intermediaries, means nothing more than rubber stamp.
Like the former government, the incumbent governance by the PPP also keeps the OGRA as a dormant regulator, which is required to notify the decisions of the government regarding the increase in the oil and gas prices. Since the PPP leadership is preoccupied with the political perplexity of the judges’ issue being still pending, and an overwhelming pressure of the US to do more in the war on terror, it lacks the capacity to handle the issue of alarmingly rising prices of the petroleum products.