CNG strike enters third day to further press helpless masses

Motorists and commuters are facing great difficulties as gas stations across the country, except a few, are remained out of order for the third consecutive day in protest against reduced tariffs on orders of the Supreme Court.

To add an insult to an injury, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has said: “The law is also silent in case an entrepreneur decides to shut his business.”

Like across the country, motorists in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad ran from pillar to post to get the refill for their rides. Most of the CNG pumps remained shut while the ones which were open witnessed unending queues of vehicles reaching out to roads in their front, blocking the moving traffic.

The CNG closure has also badly affected rickshaw and taxi drivers, who expressed their frustration and blocked roads by parking their vehicles midway, resulting in massive traffic jams in several cities.

Chairman OGRA, Saeed Ahmed Khan said action against the owners of CNG stations was possible only in one condition – if they make a formal announcement to go ahead with the strike.

On the other hand, the Chairman of the CNG Association’s Supreme Council, Ghiyas Paracha claimed that gas connections of as many as 400 CNG pumps have been severed.  However, Managing Director of Sui Northern Gas Company Limited, Arif Hameed clarified that only 90 CNG stations were unplugged for crossing the gas-use limit.

The owners are up in protest against highly unreasonable retail price of CNG that is causing them massive financial losses. To make matters worse, the unofficial strike has apparently been called for an indefinite period.

Senior office-bearers of the CNG association refused to give a specific date for ending the strike.
Drivers at the few open CNG stations said they had been waiting for hours, but low gas pressure and massive crowding meant they might have to wait for hours more.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has been moved by Zulfiqar Bhutta Advocate against the unannounced strike by the CNG stations, saying the decision to go on strike was contempt of court.

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 28 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.