Streamlining: ‘Fuel should be sold at fixed rate round-the-clock’

Home department issues notification to ensure availability for public.

PESHAWAR: The K-P Home and Tribal Affairs department has issued instructions to the district administration to ensure round-the-clock availability of petrol and diesel across the province and to not let profiteers create an artificial shortage of fuel.

In a handout issued on Saturday, the home department directed the district administration and police to ensure petrol and diesel is available to the public at all times on the rates fixed by the government of Pakistan.

A few days ago, Peshawar DC Zaheerul Islam imposed Section 144 on the open sale of diesel and petrol. Under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he directed the district administration to stop fuel from being hoarded. Strict action was told to be taken against hoarders and profiteers under the relevant sections of law.

The notification came after a shortage of fuel in Punjab spread to the federal capital and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, bringing vehicles to a standstill as people waited in long queues outside fuel stations.

The administrations of other districts were also directed to ban the open sale of petrol in bottles and canisters under Section 144 as the shortage of fuel can result in a law and order situation in an already volatile security environment of the province.

“Artificial shortage of diesel and petrol created by profiteers can not only make consumers suffer, but can also have other serious consequences,” stated the handout.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2015.