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Gas supply shortage causes uncertainty

* People express grave concern over crisis
* Transporters blame gas shortage and uncertainty for extra fares

By Sohail Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: CNG stations witnessed an unprecedented rush on Thursday with vehicles waiting for their turn in long queues to get fuel due to the uncertain supply of gas.

Cashing in on the opportunity, public transporters increased the fares and the district administration and the government were left at the mercy of public transporters.

Talking to Daily Times, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rana Akbar Hayat said that it was the shortage of the gas supply, which had provided an opportunity to the transporters to fleece the people. “ The situation will normalise after restoration of regular gas supply,” he said. He said that transporters were poor people and it was not possible for the administration to take any strict action against them. The shortage of CNG left the motorists with no other option but to leave their vehicles at homes and use public transport for their daily chores.

Aftab Khan, a CNG station manager, told Daily Times that gas shortage had started this week but on Thursday its pressure was very low and the CNG stations owners had to discontinue the service. “ The crisis will continue this week as relevant authorities have not yet informed them about the resumption of the standard supply of gas,” he added. He said that some people had switched their vehicles over to petrol but there was no considerable decrease in the number of gas customers as petrol doubled their costs. The motorists, including transporters, queued up at different CNG stations said the gas stations’ staff had told them that the gas supply had ended and now they would have to buy petrol.

People concerned: People expressed their grave concern over the gas crisis and unchecked increase in public transport fare in the town. They said that the transporters were fleecing people but no relevant authority was ready to take action against them.

Arshad Bajwa, a commuter, said that the transporters were fleecing people on the pretext of the gas crisis. He said that the city was facing a series of crises and residents were facing the brunt of wrong policies of the government.

“Public transporters have increased the fare from Rs 6 to Rs 10 and that they have their own justifications in this connection,” he said. Due to the increase in the fare, verbal clashes between the transporters and passengers were also witnessed, he added. Another citizen Farooq Ali said that he had left his car at home as he could not afford to run his car on petrol. Ali said that he intended to avail a taxi but the fare demanded by the drivers surprised him.

Transporters defend fares: Lal Khan, a taxi driver, said that the CNG shortage had forced them to charge extra fare. “The CNG stations of the capital are not supplying the gas and they have to go to Rawalpindi for fuel,” he added.

Khan said their travel to Rawalpindi for fuel, wastage of time due to long queues at the stations and uncertainty were the reasons behind charging extra fares. Another taxi driver complained of poor gas quality, which was causing faults in their vehicles. He said that a taxi driver had to manage all the expenditures raised for the faults. Wasif Ahmed, a senior citizen, criticised the government and said that the authorities were testing the nerves of the masses, as it was a state of war in the country. He said that there was no hope or relief. He said that an unknown fear had gripped them. He urged the government to provide a sigh of relief to people by controlling the occurrence of such crises again and again.

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