Long queues before gas stations clog roads

29 Nov, 2012

 

The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on Wednesday had announced that following improvement in gas supply position the gas stations would be opened on Thursday morning at 9:00am. Vehicles including public transport buses and minibuses started making queues before the gas station. In many areas the long queues badly disturbed morning rush hour traffic.

 

Commuters also on Thursday faced immense problems in reaching their work places as the presence of buses and minibuses on roads was very thin. A large number of commuters were loaded in very risky manners on the rooftops of minibuses and coaches, despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered almost a month earlier to dismantle the roof racks of minibuses and coaches in Karachi.

 

However, the private transporters, as well as, the provincial government and police are still not willing to implement the order of the apex court of the country.

 

The medieval type public transport system of Karachi, based on up to 80 years old junkyard class buses and minibuses, has become a great nuisance for the millions of commuters of this largest city of Pakistan. In the second largest city of the country, Lahore, a modern mass transit system is in its final phase, while in Karachi the policymakers and ruling political parties still have to adopt a vision to give Karachi a respectable public transport.

 

Motorists and commuters have demanded of the government to end load shedding of CNG, as now almost 80percent of all road based vehicles use CNG and the closure of gas stations seriously affects the mobility of citizens.

 

Copyright PPI (Pakistan Press International), 2012

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