KARACHI: Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations reopened on Tuesday following the gas supply suspension for 24 hours in Karachi.
It had been reported that the CNG stations were shut at 8:00 am on Monday, whereas, earlier, the CNG stations were shut for six days and reopened on Saturday after the government restored gas supply.
Last week, a crisis hit CNG stations in Karachi disrupting public transport and posing difficulties for commuters.
On Monday, it had been reported that the supply of gas will remain suspended in the metropolis on December 19 and December 21, according to a notification issued by Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).
“Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations are to remain closed on December 19 and 21 (Wednesday and Friday) for 24 hours,” read the SSGC notification.
Earlier, the province’s CNG stations had reopened on Saturday after a full week’s closure.
Federal Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan while speaking to the media said that he had met with all concerned authorities on the matter and gas supply had been restored to Sindh’s CNG sector after he reached an agreement with the CNG association.
He said that the federal government was making its best efforts to guarantee that foolproof and uninterrupted gas supply for the province’s industrial sector, adding that many industries in Punjab had shifted to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in order to survive.
Subsequently, Karachiites had suffered a serious transport crisis when a majority of the public transport vehicles stayed off the roads because of suspension of gas supply to CNG stations by SSGC.
Owners of public transport who did bring their vehicles out on the roads despite the CNG closure charged hefty fares from people who had no option but to pay.
Transporters said that it was almost impossible for most of them to bring their vehicles on the roads.
Apart from transporters, the Sindh government had also reacted strongly against the SSGC’s move and called it a violation of the Constitution.
“The SSGC move is against Article 158-B of the Constitution,” Sindh Transport Minister Syed Owais Qadir Shah had said in a statement. “The federal government has no right to suspend supply to CNG stations in Sindh which produced the largest quantity of gas.”
Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh had said the federal government’s decision to stop gas supply to the captive power plants in the province was bound to cause unemployment and stir an industrial crisis.
Shaikh had said at an emergency press conference in his office that the federal government’s attitude towards Sindh, which contributed 70 per cent to the country’s total gas production, was tantamount to unleashing oppression on the people of the province.
The minister had said that gas load shedding was a serious matter on which the prime minister had taken another U-turn as the premier had earlier promised Karachi-based industrialists of an end to the load shedding.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered that the boards of directors of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and SSGCL be dissolved owing to the prevailing gas shortfall in the country.
The premier had given directions for stricter action against the gas suppliers.
A day after ordering a fact-finding committee to launch an inquiry against the managing directors of both SNGPL and SSGCL, the federal government decided to reshuffle the companies’ boards of directors over purported poor performance. On the prime minister’s instructions, the boards of directors of both the companies were dissolved.
