Burning issue: Brainstorming sessions called to douse petrol crisis

As Punjab continues to suffer, petrol stations in K-P start rationing in anticipation

PESHAWAR/ LAHORE:

As petrol shortages plaguing Punjab threaten to snowball into a nationwide crisis, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cancelled his official engagements scheduled for Monday to tackle the crisis on priority, an official statement said on Sunday.

The announcement came a day after the premier suspended four top officials, Petroleum Secretary Abid Saeed, Additional Secretary Muhammad Naeem Malik, Director General Oil Muhammad Azam and Pakistan State Oil’s Managing Director Amjad Parvez Janjua, for their failure to foresee the crisis.

The prime minister will spend Monday chairing meetings on fuel management with a focus on how to provide immediate relief to consumers. He is expected to take important decisions so that those responsible for the crisis are taken to task and supply-demand gap is bridged, reads the official statement.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister also discussed the petrol crisis with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at their Raiwind estate. “The two leaders met over family lunch and discussed the current crisis which has hit Punjab hard,” a PML-N leader privy to the meeting told The Express Tribune.

“It’s surprising that the petrol shortage has hit only Punjab,” the chief minister was quoted as telling Nawaz who, in turn, promised to order an inquiry into the matter. Shahbaz also briefed the prime minister on the steps the provincial government has taken to ease the crisis. “CNG stations have already been opened in Lahore to facilitate consumers,” he added.

Meanwhile, motorists had no respite from petrol shortage for the sixth day in a row. A few gasoline stations were open in the city on Sunday where long queues of cars and motorcycles were seen.

Abaid Ahmad, a resident of Kamoke, said he and his wife were travelling to Lahore on his motorcycle and ran out of fuel halfway. “I had to drag my bike for eight kilometres to reach a petrol station in Shahdara – only to be told that fuel is not available,” he told The Express Tribune.

Staff at a petrol pump in Shahdara said they were rationing petrol at a rate of one litre for every motorcycle and five litres for every car to facilitate most consumers.

Taking advantage of the petrol shortage, public transport, especially rickshaws and taxis, have doubled their fares. The situation is no different in other cities of Punjab, including Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Multan, Sahiwal, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Okara, Bhakkar, Rajanpur, Bahawalnagar and Khanewal.

While petrol shortage continues to play out in the cities of Punjab, fuel stations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have started rationing petrol in anticipation of a crisis.



“We have instructions from the manager to ration fuel at Rs500 per car and Rs100 per motorcycle,” said a young employee of a gasoline station on GT Road, Peshawar. “We are short of supplies due to the ongoing fuel crisis in the country.”

The All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association claimed 60% decrease in supply due to the shortage at the state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO). “Normally, around 700 tankers carrying fuel leave Karachi daily but the numbers have dropped to 200-250 over the past few days,” said Israr Shinwari, the spokesperson for the association.

The general secretary of the Sarhad Petroleum Cartage and Dealers Association, Khalid Khan, confirmed the fuel crisis has spread to K-P but hoped that it would ease in a couple of days. “Daily petrol consumption in Peshawar is around 750,000 litres while the PSO supplied 600,000 litres on Saturday and 320,000 litres on Sunday,” he added.  (With additional reporting by our correspondents)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2015.