PIAF rejects recent increase in petrol prices

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) on Tuesday rejected the recent increase in petrol prices that is bound to jack up the prices of daily use items to unprecedented level.

The PIAF Chairman Sohail Lashari urged the government to desist from making any increase in the petroleum prices as the economy is already facing multiple challenges and cannot afford any further hike in POL prices.

He said that an acute shortage of electricity has pushed the trade and industry to the wall while the unemployment graph is going up with every passing day. He said that only few days back, the government announced some relief by cutting the prices of petroleum products but now again they are planning a huge increase of about Rs 7 per litre which is a sheer injustice.

He said that PIAF had for the last many months been calling on the concerned government circles to take measures for the promotion of alternate fuels, as trade deficit was fast widening due to heavy imports under the head of petroleum products.

He said that the timeline for the increase in the prices of petroleum products was also raising questions. He said that at a time when the whole industry was suffering due to energy crisis and high cost of doing business, the raise in POL prices is bound to give a further blow to the industry. Lashari demanded of the government to remove the carbon tax right now otherwise industry would be collapsed within no time.