No one bothers to respond to my letters, complains sec petroleum, CSR.
Islamabad has blamed the provinces for inadequate development of areas around oil and gas fields despite the provision of sufficient funds by the petroleum exploration and development firms under corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Secretary Petroleum Sikandar Sultan Raja has told the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum led by Senator Mohsin Aziz that the provinces are neither spending funds for development under CSR program of the E&P companies nor responding to communications as to why these funds remain unutilized.
The E&P companies are required under the laws and policies of the government to transfer certain amounts under CSR to the respective deputy commissioners where exploration and development activities are ongoing but these funds remain unspent because these have to be processed by a committee for the purpose of transparency.
These committees comprise local political representatives, top officials of the provincial government and district administration.
The Secretary Petroleum claims he has personally written letters to the chief secretaries and none have even bothered to respond. Billions of rupees worth of funds, meant for the development of schools, health, and water supply schemes remain stuck up with the deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners, he says.
Taking serious note, the committee has ordered that details of funds from all the fields and companies be submitted before the next session to ascertain how the funds were spent, what outcomes they have delivered, where did they remain unutilized and in what quantities, depriving the poor people of the intended development objectives.
