CNG stations in six Punjab districts remain closed

ISLAMABAD, CNG stations in six districts, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad, remained closed on Tuesday in protest against the government's proposed gas load management programme for winter. The strike is being observed on the appeal of Punjab and NWFP chapter of CNG stations association for one day in Jehlum, Attock, Chakwal, Rawalpindi and Islamabad against stopping gas supply to CNG stations for two days in a week. People faced a lot of problems due to the closure of CNG stations. Long queues of vehicles were witnessed at petrol pumps due to the strike. Most of the vehicles owners prefer to use CNG because it is cheaper, but on Tuesday they were forced to operate on the more expensive petrol. The price differential between CNG and petrol is about Rs 12.13 to Rs 13.63 with major differential between mileage of each fuel: CNG mileage is considerably more than that of petrol. Motorists, especially public transporters, taxis and rickshaws, were severely hit due to the closure of CNG stations. Most of the taxi drivers, rickshaw drivers, small cars and vans plying between the twin cities prefer to use CNG as fuel, said Rafi Awan, a taxi driver. He expressed concern about his low earnings because of the strike, and added that he would probably earn less than Rs 400 to Rs 500 even after working for 15 hours on Tuesday. Ammanullah Khan, manager at a CNG station, sarcastically said that the government appears to be focused on depriving the masses of all their needs. When this scribe asked him what measures the government should take to address the ever-increasing demand of gas, he said that the government should immediately make a deal with Iran so that the IPI gasline project could be completed. President of All Pakistan Compressed Natural Gas Station Owners Association, Ghayas Abdullah Paracha, told that if the government did not withdraw the decision of closing CNG stations two days a week due to shortage of gas in winter, the CNG industry would observe complete strike from November 15 for an indefinite period. He said the association had always supported the government in gas management in the past but this time the government took the decision on its own, ignoring the CNG industry. He urged the government to revise prices of CNG. He said CNG sector consumed only seven percent of the total gas being consumed in the country. He said that it will be a major setback for the government as it will lose the confidence of the private sector. This policy will further frustrate the public, which is already burdened with expensive atta, sugar and other daily use items. He said that about 95 percent of the private and public vehicles were using CNG as fuel and when the government starts gas load shedding two days a week, these people would suffer. He also alleged that a few influential figures of SNGPL and textile industry had suggested to the government to close down CNG stations as a means to deal with gas shortfall in winter season. The CNG Association has urged the government to exempt the CNG stations from load shedding, saying that "it is an essential service". It has also asked the government not to increase the gas tariff in January 2010 and formulate a CNG policy for the next five years. The government earned Rs 11.14 billion from CNG in the past three months with a contribution of Rs 9.61 billion from GST and Rs 1.53 billion as income tax, Paracha remarked. The loss of government revenue with two-day closure every week would therefore be significant. The Government will also lose valuable foreign exchange as demand for petrol would rise as a consequence of the two-day load shedding of gas. Investment in this sector to the tune of Rs 100 billion was made on the assurance and incentives promised by the government in different petroleum policies. He said that a few people had successfully convinced the government to implement this proposal that could prove very harmful for the economy as it may lead to increasing unemployment, lower foreign exchange reserves, disinvestment and bankruptcies.