No petrol means empty tanks and stranded vehicles. PHOTO: FILE
Motorists are facing hardship as most of the gasoline stations went on strike Monday night in protest against raids on some stations by the Customs for allegedly selling smuggled petrol and evading taxes.
No petrol means empty tanks and stranded vehicles. Scores of people could not reach their workplaces and children missed school due to fuel shortage.
Public instead of holding the owners of the filling stations responsible for the fuel shortage blamed the government. The members of the rickshaw union gathered with their tri-wheelers and staged a protest demonstration outside the Balochistan Assembly. They drivers chanted slogan against the government for the fuel crisis.
A representative of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association claimed that the Customs raid was unjustified. He added that the authorised filling stations were not involved in selling smuggled petrol.
The Customs authorities sealed a number of filling stations without any proof of smuggled petrol, whereas Iranian petrol was being sold in every nook and corner of Balochistan under the official patronage, he alleged.
“Customs and law-enforcement agencies did not raid roadside depots of smuggled petrol,” he said.
Customs Assistant Collector Amanullah Tareen, talking to The Express Tribune, said the action against the filling stations was in pursuance of the Supreme Court orders.
“We sealed five petrol pump, including three mini pumps in Quetta. The pumps were selling smuggled Iranian petrol in the city,” Tareen said affirming the drive against Iranian petrol would continue.
A rickshaw driver Muhammad Saleem told The Express Tribune that he was unable to earn anything for the last three days. “We earn bread for our families on a daily basis.”
He said the price of smuggled petrol has shot up several times with the closure of the filling stations. Iranian petrol is now selling for Rs200 per litre, he said.
A manager of a company owned filling station said his pump was open. “The Customs official sealed illegal petrol pumps in Quetta, but the petrol pump owners’ union closed filling stations across the city,” Abdul Haleem Paracha, manager of the filling station told The Express Tribune.
“Our company pumps are open in Quetta. We sold 22,000 litres of petrol yesterday. A 40,000 litre shipment was on way but Pakistan State Oil did not clear it for security fears,” he said.
Paracha said he will close his station when tanks run dry and not for any strike. “We did not do anything illegal and won’t be part of an action that affects the community we serve,” he said.
The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association General Secretary Afzal Awan, talking to The Express Tribune, said the strike will continue until their pumps were unsealed by Customs officials.
He denied that the filling stations were selling illegal petrol in Quetta.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2013.
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