KARACHI, Dec 5: Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has been accused of only promoting government’s interest at the cost of consumers.

Private sector representatives observed this at the public hearing organised by the regulatory authority here on Wednesday to have the views of the industrial and general consumers about the proposed 9.98 to 12.47 per cent increase in the gas tariff.

Barring a couple of private sector participants, most of the trade bodies including 20 leading textile associations were conspicuous by their absence at the public hearing, which strongly indicated that they had lost hope of getting any logical or just decision from Ogra.

Only representatives from SITE Association and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) attended the hearing.

Zubair Motiwala of SITE Association made a strong representation for the industry in general and the textile sector in particular. During his arguments against proposed hike in the gas tariffs, he drew the attention of the Ogra board toward crisis confronting textile industry.

He said that the industry in general believed that Ogra was no more than a drama to give impression that some regulatory body existed, but factually it was there to only protect government interest.

He also demanded that some private sector members should be taken on the authority’s board so that they could defend their interests.

He said the high electricity and gas tariffs in addition to other costly inputs had been taking their toll on the textile industry making it sick which was visible from the fact that it grew by just one per cent this year.

Zubair said Bangladesh, which does not grow single flower of cotton and imports yarn and grey cloth Pakistan, was penetrating into world market and exporting textile goods worth over $10bn by taking share of Pakistani exporters.

As a result of this, he said around 150 spinning units were either on the verge of closure or had been shut down. Similarly, about 150 knitwear units had been closed down in southern zone and equal number in northern zone, he added.

He pointed out that in each hearing the petitioners came up with logical and just arguments, which were also agreed by most of the Ogra board members, but final decision had always been contrary to the hearings. He said twice in the past the Ogra board suggested tariff reduction but they were not notified by the government.

Motiwala argued that if gas tariffs could be fixed for cement, ice factories, CNG stations and fertiliser units then as to why textile industry could not get similar treatment.

He said when fertilizer’s gas tariffs were fixed on absolute terms the cost went up, therefore, he demanded that it should be put on percentage terms which would help in resolving all problems. Similarly, the gas development surcharge and excise duty should be withdrawn to lessen the burden on the textile industry, he added.

The only way to make gas utility companies efficient and more profitable was to introduce uniform tariff mechanism and withdraw all sorts of subsidies and protections, he suggested.