LAHORE – Petrol pump owners again resorted to their fleecing techniques by stopping sales on Thursday, as fuel prices are expected to be increased by 10 to 15 percent from midnight, Pakistan Today has learnt. Motorists and motorcyclists were seen searching for petrol from one pump to another. Petrol pumps located in major areas of the city including Model Town, Garden Town, Allama Iqbal Town, Mughalpura, Dharampura, Ghari Shahu and others stopped selling fuel in the evening and hardly any pump was open.
Petrol pumps owners make the ‘routine’ excuse of less supply from refineries to stop sales. “Our supplies have been disturbed from the main refinery and we have to stop sales,” a petrol pump manager at Model Town Link Road said. Citizens said that there was no issue of fuel supplies and petrol pump owners were dishonest and want to fleece people. People also criticised the Punjab government for not saving them from the clutches of the ‘petrol pump mafia’.
No City District Government Lahore (CDGL) official checked the pumps in order to resume fuel sales. Citizens said that the government was well aware that an artificial shortage was created whenever petrol prices were expected to be increased but departments’ concerned never take any action. Nauman Tasleem
