LAHORE: The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Association of Pakistan has appealed to the prime minister, the petroleum ministry and the Ogra to take cognizance of the import of “low quality substance in the garb of LPG”.

“The substance being imported is adulterated and cheap and can pose a serious threat to the lives of consumers at large,” said association chairman Farooq Iftikhar here on Thursday.

These unscrupulous elements are wasting foreign exchange and causing loss of tax revenue to the exchequer.

This imported ‘LPG’ was found to be sulphur-rich when got tested in laboratories, he said and added this “poisonous substance” was not only posing a threat to the regulated LPG sector but also the public health in Pakistan.

Because of a massive fall in international prices of petroleum products and government’s reluctance to match prices of the local product accordingly, a huge quantity of this ‘poisonous substance’ is being imported, he said.

“This gas, when imported through sea, costs around Rs67,000 per metric ton whereas the price of local product varies from Rs72,000 to Rs77,000. Some 16,000 metric tons of LPG has been imported since Feb 1 while another 6,000 metric tons is expected within a week.

The local producer which mainly constitutes of government controlled enterprises must respond to this changing scenario on a priority basis as lifting of LPG is adversely affected.

“The internationally declining trend, according to many forecast, is there for the next two to three years and the government must reduce the prices immediately as the storage capacity in the country is limited to cut its losses,” said Mr Iftikhar.

“The LPG is a by-product of crude oil and natural gas and is rich in propane or hydrocarbons. It is an odourless, non-toxic and environment-friendly fuel. However, it is hard to tolerate the odour of the smuggled substance being sold as imported LPG,” said Mr Iftikhar.

Calling for setting up laboratories at the Karachi port and other borders, he said no cylinder should be allowed to be transported into Pakistan without a clearance certificate. Ogra should also conduct surprise raids on filling points of all LPG marketing companies to verify whether or not the smuggled substance was being mixed in the pure LPG, he demanded.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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