Winter blues: Petition seeks equal gas distribution

Residents of posh areas get full pressure at the cost of residents in other localities, say petitioners.

ISLAMABAD:

A petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday against discriminatory gas supply in the twin cities.

The petitioners, Saad Ahmad Rajput and Muhammad Zaheer, said that posh areas in Islamabad and Rawalpindi were getting gas with full pressure while other localities were getting low pressure or no gas. They said that this discriminatory practice by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) had compounded the miseries of thousands of residents.

“Domestic consumers in certain areas in the twin cities are facing acute shortage of gas and they are being discriminated against by the suppliers. These consumers should be treated like the residents of posh areas in terms of gas supply,” the petitioners said.

They said that despite the fact that the residents in these sectors pay their gas bills on time, they are being discriminated against. The petitioner said that domestic consumers in these sectors have no other option but to resort to other sources of fuel including firewood and LPG or even relying on unhygienic food from eateries.

Secretary ministry of petroleum, chairman oil and gas regulatory authority, general manager SNGPL and others have been made respondents in the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2014.