Opposition Senate Says: the government once again managed to get its bills passed.

 

Despite a majority of opposition members in the Senate, the government once again managed to get its bills passed.

 Presenting amendment bills regarding the powers of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) in the Senate session chaired by Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said that today let the opposition pass the bill  We'll add that later.

 Discussing the bill, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-e-Islami said that OGRA could not be given the power to set its own prices.

He said that OGRA could not be given the power to fix the price of LNG, a power which had been with the public hearing in the past.

 Opposition leader in the Senate Yousuf Raza Gilani said, "We cannot decide on behalf of the province. A public hearing is required on pricing."

 He said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the Council of Common Interests (CSI) to ratify the bill and return it to the standing committee or else the bill would be defeated.  We are ready to cooperate on the bill but would like to amend it.

 Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz, while participating in the discussion, said that in the past, OGRA had suggested to the government to increase the price but the government was delaying the increase, in the past it was done for scoring political points.