PESHAWAR: Owners of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel stations slammed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government over closure of CNG stations across the province to meet domestic gas demands.
CNG fuel stations owners on Tuesday threatened protest rallies and demanded the government to withdraw the decision as it has rendered thousands stations workers unemployed. All Pakistan CNG Association KP President Fazal Muqim said that the provincial government has closed CNG stations on the pretext of gas shortage due to which lakhs of workers are feared to be unemployed.
He further said that KP government has failed to secure province’s rights from federal government and forcing the CNC sector to pay for it. Muqeem said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is producing more gas then consumption, thus, under the law and the constitution there should have been no shortage as every province has first rights over its natural resources.
Muqeem said province must be exempted from gas load shedding instead of closing gas stations to meet domestic demands. Muqeem said that if the government failed to remove the ban, they will stage a nationwide strike.
According to Co-operative CNG Association Chairman Ijaz Khan, economic condition of the province are already deteriorated and such decisions would trigger another wave of unemployment. He said there are about 300,000 taxis in Peshawar but they are deprived of earning their living due to closure of CNG stations. He added that with the closure of 572 CNG stations across the province, 165,000 people will be rendered unemployed.
Khan further said that the Peshawar High Court judgments have been ignored which has ordered that the people of the province has first rights over their resources but the gas is being transferred to Punjab. He said district administration has flouted the court orders by imposing Section 144 to close all gas stations. He said that they will continue struggle to secure the rights of the province.
According to Ejaz Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is currently consuming 140 MMcfd while it is producing 550 MMcfd of gas, while Punjab is using more than 800 MMcfd. He said the federal government and other state institutions are violating the court orders and failed to protect the province’s rights. He said that the CNG stations Association is ready to cooperate with provincial government if they want to secure the province’s rights.
KP government has shut down all CNG fuel stations in the province till 31 January to ensure uninterrupted gas supply to domestic consumers. However, there has been no relief against low gas pressure and gas load-shedding in Peshawar and other cities. On the other hand, the passengers are also suffering due to non-availability of vehicles at the transport stations and vehicle owners are demanding high fares.
