Citizens had to spend Monday with limited fuel. Majority of petrol pumps remained closed owing to limited supply from the oil refineries, while the CNG stations too observed their two-day weekly closure.
Citizens said they faced inconvenience owing to limited availability of fuel. At many places, people were seen pushing their vehicles, which had failed to run without fuel. Illegal petrol sellers had a busy day and kept fleecing people by selling petrol at a high price.
The motorists had to purchase petrol for Rs 100-120 per liter. The motorists said the recent decrease in petroleum prices resulted in petrol disappearing from petrol pumps.
“I have been searching petrol for the last one hour and visited several petrol pumps but none of them have petrol,” said Shehzad Ahmed while purchasing petrol from an illegal petrol seller in Faisal Town.
Motorists’ miseries magnified as Monday was a no-CNG day as well. “I could not fill my CNG tank on Sunday and I was thinking to run my car on petrol, which too has disappeared from the market,” said a motorist, Aslam Chaudhry.
“Dealers have stopped getting petrol from the oil refineries owing to less profit,” said a manager of a petrol pump, adding that if the margin on petrol was increased then matter could be resolved.
Similarly, the rickshaw and taxi drivers charged high fares from the passengers owing to expensive fuel.
“I had to buy petrol for Rs 110 per liter and thus charged higher from the passengers,” said a rickshaw driver, Majid Bashir. Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said there was limited supply of fuel from the refineries.
He said oil-marketing companies were also not picking up stocks from the refineries and it has caused a demand and supply gap. He said the entire country was facing petrol shortage but the problem was sever in Lahore. He said, “The problem will persist in the coming days.”