300 CNG stations stay closed in Punjab

More than 300 CNG stations remain closed in Lahore, Multan and other parts of south Punjab as gas crisis worsens.

More than 300 CNG stations remained closed in Lahore, Multan and other parts of south Punjab on Wednesday as gas crisis took a turn for the worst.

The CNG outlets remained shut for the second day in the provincial metropolis. People faced hardships and mostly private vehicles and public transport stopped on roads. According to details, after closure of CNG stations a large number of vehicles were parked in front of gas stations due to non-availability of CNG.

There were very small number of rickshaws running on roads and transporters were busy overcharging the commuters.

Captain (Retd) Shuja Anwar, Chairman All Pakistan CNG Association, said CNG consumers were paying Rs200 million extra in petrol expenditure countrywide. He said middle-class people and transporters were facing serious problems due to the two-day gas outages.

Meanwhile, heavy fares are being charged from passengers of public transport.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2010.