KOHAT: The Qaumi Jirga of the oil and gas-rich Lachi tehsil has demanded of the provincial government to pay the outstanding 10 per cent share each to Kohat and Hangu districts out of the Rs104 billion royalty funds having been already paid to it by the centre for whole of the division.

Talking to Dawn here, Brig retired Saifullah Khan, a member of the jirga, claimed that an official of the finance department had told him that it had paid Rs104 billion royalty funds to the provincial government for Kohat, Hangu and Karak districts.

He said according to the petroleum policy, each oil and gas-producing district was to get 10 per cent share in royalty, besides bonus funds and social welfare allocations.

Mr Saifullah said the OGDCL and the foreign MOL company were presently operating 12-13 wells in three union council of Shakardarra. However, the people were deprived of gas facility, hospitals and roads.

He said under the petroleum SOP of 2012 if a company successfully found a well it was bound to pay US dollar 600,000 to the district, and half of the amount went to the production area for launching welfare schemes. But the Lachi tehsil, especially the three UCs of Shakardarra, have been deprived of the funds, he lamented.

Mr Saifullah pointed out that the production area had to get funds under three heads, including royalty, social welfare and bonus funds. According to the year-wise details of royalty funds displayed on the OGDCL website, the share of Shakardarra was Rs705 million in 2018 and Rs428 million in 2019, but that had not been paid to it, Mr Saifullah pointed out.

He said billions of rupees had been accumulated under the royalty fund head since the process started in 2002.

He said Rs42 million production fund was lying with the deputy commissioner’s office for years.

He said the locals had staged a protest sit-in two months ago, forcing the provincial government to sign an agreement with them that it would release Rs10 billion royalty funds, but to no effect. The Lachi jirga member alleged that state minister Shehryar Afridi was spending the bonus fund in his PK-82 constituency, which was illegal.

Mr Saifullah regretted that a Rs180 million project to lay a gas pipeline in Shakardarra had been delayed due to a tussle between the state minister and a local JUI-F MPA.

He said the deputy commissioner was the head of an expenditure committee comprising MPAs and the MNA, but the influence of the latter was greater. Therefore, the royalty funds meant for Shakardarra was spent in other constituencies.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020