Personnel of Pakistan Army, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), and Pakistan Railways collectively top the number of natural gas defaulters in the country, reveals a report of the Ministry of Petroleum, Pakistan. The report, submitted to the National Assembly, on Friday (June 26, 2009), informed the National Assembly of nearly 83, 000 gas defaulters, majority of whom which were found to be serving in Pak Army, WAPDA, and Pak Railways.

The report also listed the number of gas defaulters in each province. Punjab has the largest number of these i.e. close to 48, 500 defaulters. NWFP stands second with a little over 10, 000 defaulters; Sindh has more than 18, 000 while Balochistan has more than 6100 gas defaulters. While the ministry did not release the actual defaulted amount, it told of a new recovery plan for holding meetings with the ‘leading’ defaulters and getting the dues cleared.

It is worthwhile to mention that Balochistan has lately been very cross with the federal government over the unjust distribution of its gas resources to Punjab and has been demanding sovereignty in controlling it resources. The large number of defaulters in Punjab may be attributed to the larger population of the province. The figures also indicate the rising rate of corruption in NWFP and other provinces. In any case, the defaulted amount needs to be recovered, preferably with an additional amount per defaulter, as fine, for the offense of violating law.