25 September 2004	Saturday	09 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 24: Over 200 LPG distributors kept their businesses closed on Friday to protest the price hike over the last four months.

"Consumers' suffering may intensify as the gas distribution business will remain closed for Saturday and Sunday," LPG Distributors and Welfare Association Chairman Hadi Khan said.

In a statement, he said that general public, who mainly consumed LPG in houses, and other customers faced difficulties in procuring the gas from the market. He said retailers of LPG usually had one or two days stocks but they would run down in next one or two days.

Mr Khan said even retail shops of LPG in many areas remained shut because many of them could not make earlier arrangements from the distributors.

He said that all the distributors of the country had now joined at one platform in order to resolve their problems. He urged the petroleum ministry to intervene immediately and reverse the price to what it was four months back.