Senate body on Petroleum meets

Islamabad, Nov 11 (Online): A sub-committee of the Senate Standing committee on Petroleum met on Friday under the convenership of Senator Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai here at the Parliament House, to look into the details of lease agreement signed between the then M/o Petroleum & Natural Resources and Government of Balochistan in 2016 with particular reference to the implementation of the terms regarding recruitment of 10 Engineers and 15 Diploma Holders on annual basis from DeraBugti and other welfare activities by the Company (PPL).

The PPL briefed the committee that PPL has invited applications from eligible candidates who were domiciled residents of DeraBugti, Balochistan through, advertisement on 1st August 2021 and top 15 candidates were offered two years on job training, however during the meeting of the senate Standing Committee on 23rd August 2022, the petitioners raised the issue that a certain candidate during the test had not physically appeared and allegedly someone else had appeared on the test date. It was informed to the committee that PPL probed into the matter with the NTS and that the NTS as per the investigation report constituted a three member committee and concluded that no malpractice was noted on the day of the test nor in the record.

Senator Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti also raised questions on the non implementation of the MoA signed between MoE and GoB in may 2016, as per the agreement, the PPL was to hire 10 engineers and 15 diploma holders on local merit each year. The PPL explained that due to reduced skilled manpower requirement, during the aforementioned duration PPL could only hire the operationally required numbers of Engineers and Diploma holders which was slightly less then the MoA numbers. However, till date PPL has hired 184 locals of District DeraBugti in different cadres.

Senator Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti argued that students were not hired according to the MoA, ” if an agreement is made, must be implemented” he stated. He further said that petitioners and the students of this area have cleared the NTS test yet deprived the enrollment. The committee also noted that If there are allegation against NTS, it should be investigated by a third party.

The committee lamented that Perhaps the PPL is of the opinion that students from this area are “not good enough”, without realising that gas is produced from the birth place of these students. The PPL informed the committee that special training courses are being designed for candidates of DeraBugti to enhance their skills.

The committee concluded that since the recruitment has not been made as per the agreement therefore at least for this year these 7 candidates must be inducted. The committee unanimously recommended that the matter of induction of the seven candidates may be resolved with in 20 days.

The committee sought report on the same in the next meeting.

The meeting was attended by Senator Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti and Senator Fida Muhammad. Senior officials from the ministry, and the PPL were also in attendance.