Fuel crisis: SAPM Nadeem Babar asked to step down

Fuel crisis: SAPM Nadeem Babar asked to step down

News Desk: 

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar has been asked to step down from his position in the aftermath of a prevailing fuel crisis. The Federal Minister, Asad Umar announced this on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan had asked Babar to step down from the position. Meanwhile, the petroleum secretary will also be given an order to report to the establishment as soon as the decision for his replacement is made, the minister said.

Umar stressed that the decision was not being taken because any unlawful step had been spotted by the government related to the SAPM or petroleum secretary.

“The prime minister has taken this decision because the investigation of the whole chain has to happen; there are investigations of billions of rupees worth of loss to the nation, that is why to bring this certainty that there is not even a doubt that anyone could influence [the probe], these actions have been taken for both these individuals,” the minister said.

In addition, “it was said about some of the people sitting in administrative positions that their background is such or they don’t have the capability or ability to be sitting on those positions. The petroleum division has been told to look at those administrative decisions and quickly report to the PM after making those decisions,” Umar told the presser.

He noted that the Petroleum Division, which represents the executive branch, and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) played a central role in the law according to which all the petroleum sector was run.

He said an “ambiguity” had been created by the lawmaking done so far about which actions were the responsibility of Ogra, the regulator, and which were to be taken care of by the Petroleum Division.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About the Author

Quetta Voice is an English Daily covering all unfolding political, economic and social issues relating to Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province in terms of area. QV's main focus is on stories related to education, promotion of quality education and publishing reports about out of school children in the province. QV has also a vigilant eye on health, climate change and other key sectors.