KTI delegation visit to SSGC proved unproductive so they turn to court for help. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The parent body of public transporters, Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI), will keep the vehicles off road on Sunday to protest the new schedule of the CNG load-shedding by the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC). “We have been forced to go on a strike for an indefinite time as we cannot run our vehicles with the new load-shedding schedule,” said KTI general- secretary Syed Mehmood Afridi.
The CNG stations get 24 hours of gas after 48 hours of load-shedding. Long queues of vehicles wait outside the CNG stations for hours to get the their vehicles fueled.
A general body meeting of the KTI will be held today to discuss the situation and to devise a plan to build pressure on the government and the SSGC. “We wait for five hours to get gas,” said Muzahir Ahmed, a driver of Muslim Coach, adding that because of low gas pressure the tanks never get filled to their capacity.
He said they hardly complete one trip with three gas tanks and that their vehicles can only run on CNG. “We have lost our work completely and stay at the bus stands most of the day due to the load-shedding,” Ahmed pointed out.
A delegation of KTI visited the SSGC office but the meeting was not very productive, after which the transporters decided to go on strike. KTI general-secretary said that 70 per cent of their vehicles operate on CNG and they would need proper modification in engine to use diesel as fuel again. “We converted our vehicles on court orders and now the government is not paying any attention to our woes,” he said, adding that their livelihood is completely dependent on their vehicles, “Our drivers and our families eat only when the vehicles ply on roads,” he lamented.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2014.
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