Transporters observe strike against CNG crackdown

Gas cylinders removed from over 200 vehicles

HYDERABAD: A group of transporters, pained by the removal of unlawfully installed cylinders of compressed natural gas (CNG) in public transport vehicles, observed on Wednesday a partial strike in Hyderabad and other districts.

The owners of vans and coaster buses, whose vehicles ply mostly from unapproved transport stops, stopped the transport service from morning to afternoon as a token of protest.

The transporters blamed the regional transport authority (RTA) and district administration for overstepping. "The court had ordered the removal of only substandard CNG cylinders," claimed Yaseen Baloch, a representative of the transporters.

Manzoor Brohi of the All Sindh Bus Van Association claimed that the court allowed installation of up to two cylinders in a van or bus. "The RTA and other government departments are forcefully removing cylinders from all vehicles," he claimed.

Brohi warned that if the ongoing crackdown does not stop, the transporters will be compelled to call an indefinite strike. According to Hyderabad RTA Secretary Okash Memon, Sindh High Court has ordered the removal of cylinders from public transport buses, vans and mini vans.



"We have removed cylinders from over 200 vehicles. If the transporters install them again, we will confiscate the vehicles," he told the media. Last year, the bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Muhammad Iqbal Mehar had ordered the authorities to take action against the transporters and ask fuel stations to stop selling CNG to public transport.

However, compliance of the court order belatedly started last month after Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Saleem Rajput wrote to all 31 CNG stations in Hyderabad in this regard.