The All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Friday said the on-going CNG crisis was artificial and had been engineered to boost imports of petrol, LPG and LNG to benefit certain lobbies at the cost of the masses.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain is the biggest obstacle in resolution of the crisis and should resign immediately said APCNGA Chairman Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Paracha said the CNG sector has no alternatives and therefore gas load shedding should be stopped, gas prices and taxes should be brought at par with other gas-consuming sectors, otherwise APCNGA will start a protest movement from January 8.
A peaceful demonstration will also be carried out in Islamabad in which transporters and masses will participate, said Paracha.
Paracha said politicians and bureaucracy was directly involved in the longest CNG crisis in the country’s history which has made life miserable for 180 million people of the country.
He said the government had notorious objectives and delayed resolution of the problem for two and a half months under the pretext of policy guidelines and later came up with the idea to close CNG filling stations, banning use of the economical fuel in private vehicles and introducing costly liquid gasses. The ECC sub-committee formed to resolve the issue was not allowed to work and later they were forced to announce a pricing that was not sustainable, he said.
Paracha said the government wanted to divert attention of masses from their failures by keeping them busy and confused. It wanted to promote petroleum, LPG and LNG mafias and justify purchase of a scrap LPG terminal on inflated rates.
The energy crisis would have been resolved earlier if Dr Asim, who is a Canadian national, focused on its resolution but he wanted to destroy the CNG sector hurting millions, Paracha added.
“A just and legal distribution of natural gas would have saved a lot of foreign exchange presently being wasted on addition petroleum imports,” said Paracha.
Paracha further said Dr Asim should come up with a clarification for forcing companies to appoint local agents of his choice for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project which had delayed the whole matter.
“Why Byco has been exempted from tax for 20 years and why refiners are being forced to open LCs with PSO and what was the wisdom behind Bakri Oil which has resulted in a NAB probe,” questioned Paracha, seeking answers.