LAHORE: The federal government while taking stern notice of the petrol shortage in the country immediately suspended the ministry of petroleum and natural resources secretary, the additional secretary, the DG (Oil) and Pakistan State Oil managing director.
On his arrival at the Lahore airport from Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened an emergency meeting over the acute shortage of petrol and immediately suspended Secretary Abid Saeed, Additional Secretary Naeem Malik, DG Mohammad Aazam and PSO MD Amjad Janjua.
Motorists are suffering as a majority of petrol stations in different cities of Punjab, including Lahore, remained shut for the fifth consecutive day. Citizens are facing problems in obtaining petrol as various petrol pumps have put up ‘no sale’ notices while long queues of motorcycles and cars can be seen at the petrol pumps where fuel is available. The Edhi ambulance service was also forced to shut down due to the suspension of fuel supplies, while only four vehicles of Rescue 1122 are operational in Lahore.
People were also seen arguing and fighting with the staff of petrol stations. In a belated move to provide relief to motorists, the federal government allowed the opening of compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations in the Lahore region.
The CNG stations will be open for two days, Saturday and Sunday, and it is likely that many of them will not be able to operate due to multiple reasons. As per the announcement of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, the supply will be made only to CNG stations in Lahore city. Many pumps will not be operative till Saturday evening due to the late availablity of information. All CNG stations in Punjab have been closed since November 2014, and staff working at these pumps has been laid off. The gas utility had also removed meters at many stations and it will be a major hurdle in resuming operations, said central office-bearers of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA).
APCNGA Central leader Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha said starting operations would mean paying fixed charges on gas and electricity bills which is not possible for a majority of financially-hit CNG station owners.
He expressed reservations over the government’s decision of allowing CNG stations in Lahore to open for only two days a week. He said the whole province of Punjab was suffering from a shortage of fuel; therefore, CNG stations should be allowed to operate for seven days a week across Punjab province.
