RAWALPINDI: Confusion prevailed over the re-opening of CNG filling stations in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Friday as most people visited different stations but had to return empty handed. 

The government and All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Thursday announced that the filling stations would be reopened across the province on Friday.

However, mostly people visited the filling stations and found them closed.

“Both the government and the CNG dealers have ganged up against the people,” said Mohammad Taimoor, a resident of Peshawar Road.

He said after listening to the announcement, he visited many stations but none of them offered gas as the owners refused to open the filling stations.

He said there was a confusion over the price of the gas.

Abdullah Khan, a resident of Chaklala Scheme-III, said instead of wasting time to search for the ‘cheap’ fuel, it would be better to use petrol.

He said that he visited three CNG stations on Ch. Bostan Khan Road but all were closed. He said that the announcement of reopening of CNG stations were just to befool the people. He said that the government should permanently stop supplying the gas to the CNG filling stations.

Ghayyas Abdullah Paracha of APCNGA told Dawn that due to some technical reasons the dealers could not open the filling stations on Friday but would now open on Saturday.

“The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) has assured to restore the gas supply to the stations Friday night,” he said.

“The price of gas was fixed at Rs57 per litre instead of kilogramme as to show the difference between the price of petrol and gas. The gas can be count in litres,” he said.

Abbas Khan of Kandan Group of CNG Owners Association claimed that a dispute with the SNGPL was the main reason behind the delay in reopening of the CNG stations.

“The government did not agree to reduction of price to Rs52 per litre instead of Rs57,” he said.

However, a CNG owner told Dawn that the government and CNG association were trying to attract the people towards use of gas as fuel otherwise the price of gas increased by 12 per cent.

He said after reopening of gas stations, the people would find petrol much cheaper and they will come back to petrol as fuel instead of gas.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2015

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