No CNG from Monday to Tuesday afternoons

Yearly maintenance of the Kadanwari gas field will lead to low gas pressure.

KARACHI:

CNG stations across Sindh will remain closed two days from 9 am on Monday to 12 am midnight on Tuesday.

Sui Southern Gas Company and the CNG Association teams will keep an eye on the fuel stations and will cut off the supply to any stations found supplying customers during these hours. They will also be fined.

CNG Stations Owners Association chairman Malik Khudda Baksh said that there are approximately 700 CNG stations in the province. Due to a scarcity of supply, they have suffered losses worth about Rs70 million. The association’s members have decided to stay closed to make up for the shortage of gas.

On the other hand, SSGC representatives put the suspension of gas supplies down to the cleaning of the Kadanwari gas field. They said that the suspension was necessary because gas pressures dropped too much during the time that maintenance work was going on at the gas field. The gas field’s yearly maintenance will last from July 8 to July 17, due to which the gas will be shut off to consumers.

The work will lead to a shortage of 200 million cubic metres per day. It is hoped that, if the gas pressure is kept constant during this time, residents will not suffer from low gas pressures at their homes. However, the gas suppliers’ plan hit a snag on Sunday as people flocked to CNG stations and had their tanks filled up pre-emptively.

This undermines their hopes that they would save gas during the closure, say sources.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2011.

Orangi also had to deal with a clash between two groups that erupted in Aligarh Colony. Intense firing was reported but law enforcement agencies managed to keep the situation from getting out of hand and nobody was hurt. Orangi SP Khurram Waris assured The Express Tribune that, overall, the situation in Orangi Town was under control.

Despite the assurances, killings continue in Orangi as 45-year-old Mustafa was gunned down. DSP Maqsood told The Express Tribune that the victim was shot and killed near Qatar Mor in Orangi Town police limits. He said that the deceased was affiliated with the MQM but appears to have been killed over a personal enmity. His body was taken to Qatar Hospital.

Meanwhile, 32-year-old Mohammad Omar was killed in Musharraf Colony in Mauripur police limits. Police said that the victim was shot dead by his neighbour, Jamal Baloch and Kamal Baloch, for aerial firing at a wedding ceremony.

An unidentified young man was found dead at Firdous Colony. Gulbahar police said that the body was wrapped in cloth and had been beaten up before being shot twice. His body was taken to the Edhi morgue for identification.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sindh office bearers went around some of the violence-hit areas, and chatted with shop keepers, who told them that after five days of constant blood-letting, life had somewhat returned to normal.

Separately, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan members went to Katti Pahari and distributed groceries to 400 families.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2011.