The Federal Government's unexpected announcement on Sunday morning to increase petrol and diesel prices created chaos in the metropolitan city as motorists and motorcyclists rushed to petrol pumps to refuel their vehicles, triggering long queues.
However, the owners of petrol pumps stopped the sale of fuel on old rates before 11a.m.
The Government was scheduled to announce the new fuel prices on January 31, but it hastened the decision to meet a key condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of a crucial loan program and increased the rates of petrol and diesel by Rs.35 per liter. Now, petrol will be available at Rs.250.50 per liter and diesel at Rs.263.50 per liter.
The petrol pump owners across the country, including in Karachi, were anticipating a huge increase in the prices of petroleum products since last week. Therefore, they started stocking up fuel to make windfall profits, creating shortages as almost 50 percent of the city's petrol pumps had started rationing fuel.
Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar unexpectedly announced the increase in petrol and diesel prices on Sunday morning in a video message.
No sooner did he make the announcement, bikers, motorists, rickshaw drivers, and truckers rushed to petrol pumps to refill tanks of their vehicles.
Chaotic rush was witnessed at the petrol pumps as the owners stopped selling fuel at old rates, triggering fights and scuffles. However, when they got to know about the announcement of huge increase in the prices, they targeted their criticism at the Federal Government and the Finance Minister for putting extra burden on the people who are already reeling from huge inflation.
They said that the Federal Government does not care about the problems of the common man as it wants to please the IMF to secure more loans. They added that the politicians who are responsible for the financial crisis should also bear some of the economic burden themselves.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2023.
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