All Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association has announced that they will stop supply of unprocessed edible oil and ghee from today (Saturday) throughout the country in protest against private transporters who have suspended oil shipments and set ablaze three tankers carrying millions of rupees worth of oil.
Private transporters set the tankers on fire at the Port Qasim on Friday in protest against the oil manufacturers’ decision to also take the services of other transport companies, said industry people.
Association’s Central Chairman Abdul Waheed said the three tankers were carrying 200 tons of unprocessed edible oil worth Rs30 million.
“The aim of private tanker owners is to create a monopoly in the supply of raw edible oil to factories. Private transporters under the umbrella of Edible Oil Tanker Owners Association are pressurising the industry so that it could cancel its contract with the National Logistics Cell (NLC),” he said.
He said the oil manufacturers were free to choose any transport company and the Sindh High Court had also endorsed the legal right of the industry recently.
He claimed that the association had not signed any agreement with the private transporters for 100% supply of edible oil from ports to factories.
He said an emergency meeting of the association decided to close factories across the country from Saturday. The association, which has 96 members that supply 6,000 tons of edible oil and ghee every day, wants to ensure uninterrupted supply of edible oil to the factories.
However, some members of the association had no knowledge of the closure of industry from Saturday. A senior member told The Express Tribune that the decision to shut factories was not yet final.
Edible Oil Tanker Owners Association Chairman Bakhtawar Khan rejected all allegations, saying the matter of oil supply was sub judice as they had filed a petition in the Sindh High Court. He also denied that the transporters had burnt oil tankers and said their protest was peaceful.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2012.
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Isn't NLC an army institution? I wonder what encouraged edible oil industry to use NLC instead of private civilian transporters. Is there anything that civilians will be allowed to do in this country except being abducted and killed?
One reason or other, unfortunate nation is not happy with the Bread & Butter available to it, moving toward the situation where no return will be possible like Egyptians and Libyans. Don't they see what is being cooked on international scenario regarding Baluchistan. See what is the alternate available to you of natural gas?