He said that gas companies are charging the additional amount under the head of Gross Calorific Value. He explained that charges under this category had been unjustifiably increased by the government and was unfairly being taken from gas consumers.
Rejecting the Rs1.73 per kilogramme increase in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) price approved by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), the association has demanded that after adjusting for the actual increase in price of gas, the rest of the amount be refunded to consumers.
The APCNGA threatened that if the above demand was not met, CNG stations in virtually all over the country would increase prices by Rs4.7 per kg. If the said increase goes through, the per kg price of CNG will rise to Rs59.07.
The association has also refused to shut down CNG stations from Saturday, and announced a protest against the government if stations are forced to close down.
The chairman has warned that if the government continues to exert pressure, the CNG dealers would be forced to take to the streets and resort to violence. He declared that if the law and order situation deteriorated as a result of this, only the government would be responsible.
Responding to a question on the threatened price increase, the chairman highlighted that if Ogra did not accommodate the demands made by CNG dealers, the price of CNG would be increased according to the formula approved by the Economic Coordination Committee. This increase would amount to Rs4.7 per kg, according to the association.
Paracha said that the government was restricting the supply of gas to CNG stations through outages so that gas could be provided to rental power plants. He pointed out that the government has promised to supply 185 million cubic feet of gas per day to rental power plants.
He claimed that an Asian Development Bank study has highlighted that these power plants were, on an average, operating on an efficiency rate of just 29 per cent. This showed that most of the gas provided to them was being wasted.
He added that even though these plants are generating electricity at a comparatively lower cost, the benefit is not being passed on to consumers.
Paracha also warned of a severe gas shortage in Punjab in November and claimed that the situation could deteriorate so much that some cities would have no supply of gas at all.
Accusing elected government officials and high ranking bureaucrats of corruption, Paracha said that since Ogra collected a commission on all gas sales, the authority was only catering to the interests of gas companies.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.
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