RAWALPINDI:
On the last day of 2012, a visit to different areas of the twin cities revealed that this Monday people had only one thing on their mind — getting fuel for their vehicles.
Traffic police to taxi drivers, public transporters to commuters, in search for fuel, everyone seemed lost.
Long queues were seen at the filling stations selling petrol in the garrison city of Rawalpindi where at many places brawls and quarrels were reported.
Under the gas load management plan, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) has decided to stop the supply of CNG for six days a week crippling the business of cabs, rickshaws and other public transports that rely on the low-price fuel.
The decision was taken by the SNGPL on December 30 in order to facilitate the domestic and industrial users.
There are 268 CNG stations in Rawalpindi city alone that stopped supplying gas on Thursday morning as a good number of the stations, around 150, have already been closed over the dispute of CNG prices.
To make matters worse, even petrol has dried up at most of the filling stations.
“They stopped selling petrol at about 1pm, saying all of their day’s supply had been consumed. The situation is worse for taxi drivers who earn on a daily bases,” said Aftab Ahmed, a taxi-driver standing in queue outside a petrol station situated on the Benazir Bhutto Road.
We were not aware of the fact that CNG would not be available for six days a week. I found out about this when I went to get a refill on Sunday morning, he added.
After the CNG load shedding and petrol shortage, only diesel was available at filling stations across the twin cities. PHOTO: INP, MOHAMMAD JAVAID
Meanwhile, manager of a petrol station in Aabpara, Raja Shokat said that on an average day the petrol pump sells 6,000 to 10,000 litres of petrol, however after this decision the consumption has increased to 25,000 litres. “If they completely suspend the supply of CNG, it won’t be possible to meet the demand of petrol,” he added.
This is trailer of what the new year has in store for us, long hours in queues to get petrol on inflated rates, said Maskeen Khan, a Suzuki pickup driver.
The situation would deteriorate further, with the rulers as heartless as these, things will only go downhill for us, he added.
A charged mob tried to put a petrol station on fire at Dhoke Dalal near Pirwadhai and a fight also broke out between the staff and the motorists at a petrol station near Faizabad.
The CNG stations will open on Wednesday only for one day and would get closed for next six days.
President All Pakistan CNG Association Ghiyas Paracha criticised the government for the closure of CNG and said that this decision has badly affected the commuters. “How is it possible for the commuters to run their vehicles on petrol for an indefinite period,’’ he added. Paracha said that government should review its decision and at least provide CNG for three days in a week.
President Twin Cities Transport Union and General Secretary Mutahidda Transport Malik Sultan Awan said that this decision has badly affected the public transporters. He said that transporters and commuters were already suffering and now this decision will add more problems for them. “It’s a very bad decision. The government is suddenly asking millions of CNG users to shift to petrol, why would they stand for six hours in queues if it was so easy for them,” he added.
Awami Workers Party also held a protest demonstration outside the Rawalpindi Press Club against gas load-shedding and demanded that the Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline project be initiated with immediate effect.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2013.
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CNG and petrol shortage is only due to unwise and stupid approach of those who are at the helm of affairs. Who knows what they actually want to do?