Load shedding: ‘Clear bias against Punjab’

Court asked to direct authorities to put an end to gas load shedding.

LAHORE:

A petition has been filed before the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking uninterrupted supply of CNG in the province and declaring its load shedding illegal.

Petitioner Syed Fakhar Ali Fakhri, through his lawyer Fahad Ahmad Siddiqi, names the petroleum secretary, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority, the Punjab chief secretary, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd ( SNGPL) and the All Pakistan CNG Association through its chairman as respondents.

The petitioner submitted that for the past three-and-a-half years the government had been pursuing a discriminatory policy of power and gas load shedding as some provinces were treated differently from others. There has also been discrimination between urban and rural areas. He said this had been highlighted by the ECC’s decision to increase gas load shedding for CNG stations in Punjab from two to three days and a two day closure in Sindh.

He added that on July 3 the SNGPL had issued a notification for closing down CNG stations in Punjab for three days a week with immediate effect.

Fakhri said that after implementation of the notification, gas supply to CNG stations located in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Multan would remain suspended from Monday 6 am to 6am on Thursday on a weekly basis, while the CNG stations of Islamabad, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur regions would be deprived of gas from Thursday 6 am to Sunday 6 am.

The petitioner said the suspension of gas supply was creating enormous difficulties for commuters and transporters.

He apprehended that the situation would be even worse in winter in the Punjab as there was clearly bias against the province.

He said there were reports that the government was contemplating suspending gas supply for four to five days during the winter months for the industrial sector which would bring that sector to a standstill.

He prayed that the court declare the load shedding notification as ultra vires, discriminatory and void ab initio, and the authorities concerned be directed to supply uninterrupted gas supply to the CNG stations in Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2011.