Shortage: CNG association announces countrywide protest

ISLAMABAD:

The All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) called upon the government on Monday to resolve the CNG shortage to save investments and provide relief to motorists.

The CNG issue has left some 400,000 people unemployed, said Chairman of the Supreme Council of APCNGA Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, in a statement issued here on Monday.

He said that a protest rally would be held at Faizabad today (January 8), while another rally would be arranged at 4.30 pm in Karachi at Civic Lawn, which would then be followed by a press conference.

Similarly, a demonstration would be held at Gulberg Chowk in Lahore, while another rally would be taken out at Main GTS Chowk in Faisalabad.

Paracha alleged that CNG filling stations had remained closed for the last two and a half months, a move that resulted in deterioration of machinery and jeopardised investments to the tune of Rs400 billion. He claimed that gas prices and taxes were not reduced as demanded in the new pricing formula.

CNG stations have been closed since the past ten days in Punjab and Balochistan, Sindh is facing four-day load-shedding while three hundred stations have been closed due to low gas pressure in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Moreover, connections of 400 CNG stations have been disconnected. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2013.