Opposition suffers another defeat as Senate approves OGRA second amendment bill

• Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani casts tiebreaking vote in favour of bill.
• Bill empowers OGRA to determine price of RLNG, LNG without holding a public hearing.
• Senate chairman takes a jibe at Energy Minister Hammad Azhar for being late.

ISLAMABAD: The Opposition, which enjoys a majority in Senate, faced an embarrassment in the Upper House after the government managed to pass the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

Ahead of the vote, PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani said that a public hearing was necessary before approving the price. However, Leader of the House Senator Shehzad Waseem said that the bill was already passed with consensus in the relevant standing committee.

Senator Raza Rabbani said that the bill should have been put before the Council of Common Interest. But on the other hand, Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz clarified that the bill empowers OGRA and has "nothing to do with the IMF and CCI."

When the bill was presented before the House, the Opposition staged a walkout and the bill was passed by the Senate after the Dilawar Khan group voted in favour of the bill.

In the initial voting, 29 senators voted in favour and the same number of lawmakers voted against the bill. However, the bill was passed by the Upper House after Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani voted in favour of the bill.

The same happened during the allied health professional council’s bill; the senate chairman cast the decided vote in favour of the law.

Senate chairman takes a jibe at Energy Minister Hammad Azhar

Chairman Sanjrani took a jibe at Energy minister Hammad Azhar after the latter arrived in the House late.

“Hammad you can leave, the bill has been passed and you’re late as always,” said Sanjrani.

What is the OGRA amendment bill?

Under the bill, if the federal government fails to notify OGRA’s recommended prices within 40 days, the regulator will be empowered to notify the new price.

The bill empowers OGRA to decide the price of RLNG and LNG without holding a public hearing.