Dr Asim throws the gas bomb

As the cabinet was busy mulling its options for Ramadan, which ran the whole gamut between reducing load shedding and conjuring up a package for the masses, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain decided the moment was right to drop his bomb.
In a move that is set to wreak havoc with CNG station and vehicle owners, the Petroleum Ministry has decided to completely cut off gas supply to CNG station all over the country in November and December. The move has been necessitated by the ministry’s gas management needs, which have boiled down to the simple fact that Pakistan does not have sufficient gas to cater to the needs of both the household requirements and the needs of CNG stations.
At a time when the regular two-to-three-day closure is generating countrywide clatter, the prospect of going two months without gas supply would receive some serious backlash.
Evidence of the said backlash was seen in the cabinet meeting as well, with concerns regarding the reaction of the various sectors and the fact that the elections would be around the corner at the time, surfacing regularly.
However, Dr Asim was adamant that the ministry had no other option, reiterating that with gas shortfall tracing its nadir at the tail-end of the year the ministry would have had to earmark either the household gas supply or CNG station supply for the two-month closure. The latter was the obvious choice, he maintained, as the opposition continued to hanker after the possibility that neither closure would be conjured up. Dr Asim, however, was unmoved and claimed that there was “no other solution”.
The move comes amidst government’s failure to import sufficient LNG to bridge the national demand-supply disparity, with the IP (Iran-Pakistan) and TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline projects not transpiring either owing to international political pressure and concerns. This has left the government with no other alternative except giving CNG gas supply the boot and maintaining household gas supply – which again would not be as seamlessly as the masses would wish them to be.