Come Sunday, long queues toil in search of gas

Some stations selling CNG at Rs81 per kg.

RAWALPINDI: Even after three days off, CNG was hard to come by on Sunday. Woes for the commuters continued as most of the station owners did not sell the commodity while others, in alleged collusion with the law-enforcers, were selling it at a much higher rate.

There were many CNG stations that sold gas at a price as high as Rs81 per kg-in violation of the decision made by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that fixed the price at Rs61 kg.

Majority of stations being members of All Pakistan CNG Association remained closed on Sunday leading to long queues of vehicles in different parts of the city.



The stations owned and operated by multinational and national companies remained open but were choked by hundreds of vehicles.

“I paid Rs81 for a kg to get CNG for my Mehran from a station at Chakri Road on Sunday morning,” said Mashab Kifait. Though the station was not providing CNG, the manager agreed when I requested him but only at a much higher price, he added.

An interesting situation emerged at a CNG station on Airport Road where gas was being sold at higher rates. When the customers protested, the staff said that they also had to pay area police and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Civil Lines to continue selling gas.



Despite repeated attempts, DSP Taimur Khan could not be reached for his comments.

However, staff at Airport Police denied the allegations and said if they receive any written complaints proper legal action could be taken against the CNG station owner.

“The CNG owners cannot afford to sell gas at Rs61 per kg due to high government taxes and gas tariff for CNG sector,” said a manager of a station situated at Dhamial Road.

The crisis will persist as long as OGRA, government and CNG association agree on new prices keeping view the directions of the apex court, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2012.