The All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Thursday accused the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) of hatching a conspiracy against the CNG sector by issuing illegal show-cause notices to over 1,000 CNG operators in residential areas.
The APCNGA maintained that OGRA was using intimidation tactics by fining the CNG operators to make them quit the business, before finally cancelling their licenses.
They maintained that OGRA had started dancing to the tunes of influential lobbies out to destroy the world’s leading CNG industry, violating its own rules and regulations in the process.
The APCNGA informed that all petrol pumps and CNG operators had acquired a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from 12 different departments under the Petroleum Ministry’s policies before commencing commercial operations.
These departments included OGRA, Explosives Department, Traffic Police, Town Municipal Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, electricity and gas distribution companies, district administration, national and provincial highway authorities and Civil Aviation Authority, said APCNGA Supreme Council Chairman Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha. Moreover, all CNG operators had also procured the NOC from all neighbours before establishing their business, he said.
Paracha said that all government agencies were responsible for any oversights during the NOC acquiring process, adding that all the aforementioned departments would also be guilty of harassing the masses and the investors who had invested around Rs 400 billion in the vibrant CNG sector.
He said that OGRA had allowed the construction of all CNG outlets on their current locations, and he found it surprising that 23 years later, they have decided to issue show cause notices on these very locations. “Why didn’t the other departments take any action against these CNG outlets so far if there was something wrong with their locations?” he questioned.
Paracha said that targeting CNG stations on the pretext of residential areas is a conspiracy as all the business in the residential areas are established on commercial patches after permission from authorities.
He maintained that shifting CNG outlets out of the city was not feasible and it would add gravely to the masses’ sufferings.
The CNG sector’s leader said that their sector lacked political clout; therefore it was regularly harassed on one pretext or the other.
He asked the chief justice of Pakistan and the prime minister to take note of the situation as the CNG operators had not violated any laws.
