The sudden closure of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations in Rawalpindi, like the rest of Punjab, left motorists running from one station to another to fill their vehicles’ tanks.
People faced extreme difficulties in refuelling their vehicles due to closure of CNG stations without any prior announcement, motorists standing in long queue at a filling station told The Express Tribune.
A CNG pump management said that they have been directed by the provincial government to keep the stations shut on weekends.
The federal government has forcibly shut down the CNG stations in Punjab and Sindh, All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) Chairman Ghayas Paracha told The Express Tribune.
He alleged that the action was taken to favour the power sector known for its malpractices, mismanagement, and incompetence.
CNG outage to continue for another day in Sindh
Paracha said that instead of reforming the power sector in the country, the government was continuously rewarding it through different controversial moves.
The circular debt of the power has not reduced but instead has gone up despite favours from the government, APCNGA chairman asserted.
The chairman said that the CNG stations had never been subjected to such injustice during the past two decades. The pumps have been shut down in the summers unlike past when the sector got supply interrupted in winters only, Paracha added.
He said that apart from keeping the environment clean, the availability of CNG ensured economical transport to the poor people. He expressed that the CNG sector was paying high taxes and tariffs for obtaining gas and this so with advance payments. He lamented that the sector still faces conspiracies.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2020.
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