Major cut: Petrol unavailable at filling stations in city

PESHAWAR:

Petrol was not available at various filling stations across the city on Tuesday after the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority reduced the prices of petroleum by 12% to Rs62.77 per litre to provide some relief to the public.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a reduction of Rs8.48 per litre in petrol prices. The price of high-speed diesel has been cut by Rs4.67 per litre from Rs75.79 to Rs71.12. On the other hand, the price of light diesel oil has been cut by Rs1.97 per litre from Rs39.94 to Rs37.97.

A manager of a filling station told The Express Tribune petrol pumps with large storages are reluctant to sell the stored fuel at reduced rates.

Following the reduction in prices, owners of filling stations have not only refused to purchase petrol from oil companies, but have also stopped selling fuel at reduced prices.

Volley of complaints

This has caused consumers problems as they had to go from one pump to the other looking for petrol.

A large number of commuters said owners of filling stations tend to store petrol and diesel and wait for prices to increase so they can be sold at higher rates. As a result, when prices are reduced, owners were confused over what they should do. Similar views were expressed by commuters on Warsak Road, Sher Shah Suri Road, Charsadda Road and other parts of the city.

Meanwhile, owners of filling stations said they had quantities of petrol stored and selling it at a reduced price would result in losses for them.

Transport fares

New rates for transport fares have been issued across the province in keeping with reductions to the price of diesel. The new rates were brought into effect on March 1.

According to a notification issued by the transport department on Tuesday, the Provincial Transport Authority has devised new rates on “a per kilometre basis” for diesel-operating buses.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2016.