Petrol problems

Vehicle owners in Lahore have found themselves paralysed by the petrol crisis which has left all pumps short of fuel.

Vehicle owners in Lahore have found themselves virtually paralysed by the petrol crisis which has left all pumps short of fuel. On Friday, only about ten per cent of stations in the city were providing petrol, usually giving only Rs200 worth of fuel to motorcycles and Rs500 to cars. The shortage may last a few more days, and is being attributed to several factors. The main one is said to be the inability of Parco, the country’s largest refinery based in south Punjab, to supply fuel due to the destruction of roads and bridges in the wake of the floods — with petrol being brought in a long distance away, from Karachi. The departure of oil tanker drivers for an Eid break – a prolonged one in many cases – has added to the shortage.

Long queues at filling stations create a sense of crisis and the idea of an empty vehicle fills many with panic. We must ask why better arrangements were not made. It should have been possible to anticipate the problem. After all, flooding at Kot Addu occurred early in August, leading to Parco’s incapacitation, while Eid too was obviously an event that the administration knew lay around the corner. Bringing in extra supplies to the city ahead of the holidays could have lessened the woes of ordinary people, many of whom have had to resort to obtaining miniscule amounts of fuel at several places in order to ensure they can still get to work. The black-marketing of petrol, at exorbitant rates, has added to the problems.

Petrol dealers believe things will return to normal very soon. We certainly hope this is the case. But in all this there is a lesson for the future. Better planning and thinking is required. A major role of the government is to serve the needs of people, and to try and ensure they do not face such unnecessary difficulties. This role needs to be played more effectively in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2010.