RAWALPINDI: Sunday may be a fun day for many but not for Saqib Mehmood who spoiled his weekend in search of gas to run his car and burn the kitchen stove.

“I went to a CNG station at Chaudhry Bostan Khan Road to get my car’s tank filled but there was a long queue. I moved to three other filling stations but there were more than 70 cars already waiting. At last, I decided to go to Airport Road but when it was my turn in a filling station, some officials from the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) arrived and stopped the supply,” he said.

After failing to get the cheap fuel for his car, Mr Mehmood opted for petrol. But the whole exercise took five hours. More embarrassment was waiting for him when he reached home. His angry wife informed him that there was no gas to cook food.

Upon this, Mr Mehmood lifted the LPG cylinder on his shoulders and reached a nearby filling agency. But, there was another long queue. He visited three other shops and managed to get the cylinder filled after over two hours. It was only in the evening that his wife could prepare food for the family.

Mr Mehmood is among hundreds of people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad who have been facing low gas pressure and shortage of CNG for the last many weeks.

Sunday was the fourth consecutive CNG closure day. The motorists continued shuttling from one filling station to another in search of the fuel, but to no avail.

However, CNG stations owned by some influential people at R.A. Bazaar, Benazir Bhutto Road, Islamabad Expressway, Chauhdry Bostan Khan Road, Range Road and Airport Road remained open in the morning. They continued supply till SNGPL officials accompanied by the police forced them to close the stations.

Meanwhile, the domestic consumers in many areas faced low pressure of gas. “The gas pressure is so low that it hardly catches fire,” said Sahil Ahmed, a resident of College Road.

Mohammad Imran, a resident of Yousuf Colony, said they had been facing gas shortage for the last two weeks. He said when there was not enough gas why the SNGPL had issued new connections to filling stations and other industrial units.—Aamir Yasin