The closure of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in the Potohar region makes commuters life miserable as they wait long for public transport at bus stops, revealed a survey conducted by Business Recorder on Saturday. According to the plan CNG stations in Punjab remain closed for three days from Thursday to Sunday Morning under gas load-management plan.
Both the public and private transporters almost disappear from the roads, as the CNG stations from Jhelum to Attock remain closed. Passengers waiting for public transport at different bus stops while talking to Business Recorder said that in the absence of CNG most of the public transport owners of van, taxi, Suzuki and Rickshaw prefer to stay at home and those who bring their vehicles on roads charge thrice the normal fares.
Talking to Business Recorder Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha of All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) said that the government should exempt the CNG sector from loadshedding, keeping in view that most of the public transport use CNG. He said that CNG stations were source earning for thousands of people and their closure three days a week creates serious problems for the workers.
Arsalan Khan, a taxi driver lamented that initially government encouraged use of CNG in the country by providing a number of incentives and now at a time when majority of the vehicles have converted to CNG, the government once again is trying to compel vehicles to use petrol/diesel.
While condemning the expected upsurge of gas and petrol prices, he said that he was unable to understand how the government can justify its claim of being people friendly. He said that every Thursday and Sunday motorists spend hours in queues to refill CNG in their vehicles and due to this exercise they waste time which could more productively be spent in economic activity that would benefit the country.
A van driver Mustafa Khan said that the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) fixed fares in 2010. Since then the government has increased petroleum products prices by Rs 30 per litre and CNG prices by Rs 40 per kg. "I work 16 hours a day and hardly earn Rs 400-500 per day which is not sufficient to feed my six family members," he said.