CNG associations continued their strike on Thursday, against the tax surcharge on fuel gas, leaving commuters suffering.
The gas stations remained closed even on Thursday even though the CNG associations had not yet officially given a strike call. To make things worse, the unofficial strike has apparently been extended for an indefinite period.
A large number of people in the city faced serious problems while going to their schools, colleges, offices and returning home, as most of the public transport, which had been converted to CNG, remained off the road due to unavailability of fuel.
Drivers of privately owned transport facilities in different cities of the country held protest demonstrations against the unofficial strike call by the CNG station owners.
Massive queues of vehicles were seen at a few company-operated gas stations in the city that remained open and rest of the private gas stations were closed in the city.
Taking advantage of the situation, taxi and rickshaw drivers charged exorbitant fares from commuters. Many people, who could not afford to pay the high fares, were seen walking towards their destinations.
According to a CNG pump owner, “We are aware of the situation. The order of the Supreme Court is biased. We too want the relaxation as the tax from the government side does not allow us to sell the CNG in these rates and we have asked the government to reconsider the rate.”
All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman Ghias Abdullah Paracha claimed that no formal strike had been announced by the association, which station operators were observing on their own accord, adding that it was difficult for station owners to sell gas at the lowered prices and meet stations’ operational costs.
CNG users across the country said that suspension of CNG services was a failure on part of the government. A rickshaw driver complained that the chief justice was not doing enough.
He added that this CNG strike had resulted in even higher prices of fuel which made it impossible for him to afford petrol.
Ajmal Hussain, a school van driver, said that, “There are no rules in our country. We only operate on bribes.”
Earlier, the CNG providers had said that stations would remain shut until Thursday morning at least. “We don’t want to reopen stations until OGRA announces new acceptable CNG prices,” said All Pakistan CNG Association Punjab Chapter chairman.
