Gilgit residents brace themselves as diesel crisis looms large

Pump owners uncertain about future supply in the region.

GILGIT:

As diesel crisis continues in the country, the spill-over effects have started reaching Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), where hoarders are attempting to benefit from the situation by creating an artificial crisis.

“There are indications that people in the oil industry are trying to create a fake crisis in the region to fill their own pockets,” said Zahid Ali, a transporter in Gilgit. “The situation might spread to other parts of G-B if the government does not do something about it soon,” he added.

According to several transporters, the petrol pumps in Gilgit are not supplying fuel to consumers, saying that they have run out of stock.

G-B Petroleum Association Secretary Zulfiqar Ali told The Express Tribune that the effect of crisis created by hoarders is spreading all over G-B. He explained that the supply had fallen short from Rawalpindi due to the ongoing diesel crisis in the country.

A worker at Malik Pump in Gilgit told The Express Tribune that the pumps did have some stock with them at the moment, but they were uncertain about future supply. He said the effects of the crisis are already being felt in G-B and the conditions will further deteriorate if the shortage in fuel supply from the oil companies is not addressed.

Meanwhile, the residents of Skardu are also facing a similar situation, where the traffic was suspended after Alam Bridge, which connects Skardu to the rest of the region, collapsed.

Even though the bridge has been partially repaired, the passage of heavy trucks is still not allowed. The residents have also held a shutter-down strike against hoarders in town; however, petroleum products are still not available in the markets.

A senior district admin official said that the authorities are well aware of the ongoing crisis in the region and are trying their best to keep the situation under control. “We are not ignorant about it and nobody will be allowed to take unnecessary advantage from the situation,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.