Over 2000 transport workers, CNG dealers and employees on Monday staged a protest demonstration against the unjust increase in gas tariff for CNG stations and a proposal to shutdown CNG stations for a month.
They stages protest demonstrations at Bahawalpur chowk, Multan and blocked the traffic on Multan Muzaffargarh-Dera Ghazi Khan-Mianwali route, Multan-Bahawalpur-Rahimyarkhan, Multan-Vehari-Mailsi, Burewala, Multan-Jhang, Faisalabad Kabirwala Shorkot Sargodha and Multan-Lahore, Sahiwal, Sialkot routes by parking their vehicles on these roads.
The protestors also burnt tyres to express their anger. President of All Pakistan CNG dealers Association Multan Chapter, Shahid Rao criticised Federal Minister for Power Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain for undermining CNG business to the advantage of other petroleum dealers. He said that the conspiracy was hatched at the highest level to destroy the CNG industry, firstly by depriving the industry of the only raw material it had and secondly by bringing CNG prices on a par with petroleum products. "The CNG sector consumes just seven percent of gas produced in the country and despite this low ratio of consumption, the sector is frequently deprived of gas under the pretext that there is countrywide shortfall of gas."
He said that CNG was an inexpensive and environmentally friendly fuel that helped middle and lower middle class families to commute. Yet several steps and policies were announced to save CNG sector, he added. He said that in case the government went ahead with its plan to increase CNG prices, Pakistan would be selling CNG at the world's highest cost despite the fact that globally the country had the largest number of vehicles on gas. APCNGA spokesman for southern Punjab Rana Shiraz Bashir also rejected the proposed move to impose gas infrastructure development levy on CNG business.
He said the government wanted to collect Rs 11.5 billion by imposing this new tax on an industry, which had already been facing serious hardships due to frequent shutdowns of gas supply. "The CNG industry has been contributing billions of rupees to the national exchequer in the form of massive taxes but despite this contribution, survival of the industry is at stake."
Yet the CNG associations sensed their national obligation regarding passengers' safety and announced a programme with government support to set up centres on a countrywide scale for checking commercial vehicles using CNG to clear defects, Bashir said. After creating a shortfall of gas on the nation-wide scale, the government wanted to import LNG at a very high cost, he said, adding that this scandal would rock the government as much as the rental power plants scam did. Bashir said that while in other countries the government provided subsides for the industry and businesses performing the CNG conversion work due to its positive impact on environment, here the CNG industry was badly neglected and made to suffer due to ill-advised policies of the government.