CHITRAL: Due to the strike of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dealers in Chitral for last two weeks, the commodity has run out in the district. The dealers are demanding increase in price because they have to incur charges for transporting it from Rawalpindi.

The dealers went on strike when the consumer court ruled on Nov 27 on the petition of a consumer that the LPG should be sold at the rate fixed by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, and declared null and void the rate fixed by the district administration.

In the judgment, the court had admonished the district administration for fixing the LPG price, saying that it was the sole authority of Ogra.

The authorised dealers of LPG contended that the gas companies did not provide them with transportation charges from Rawalpindi to Chitral and they had no other option but to charge the same from consumers.

Assistant commissioner, Chitral, Alamgir said the local LPG dealers had challenged the verdict in Peshawar High Court, so shortage of the commodity would persist till the case was disposed of. He said the district administration could not interfere in the matter.

STOLEN VEHICLES RECOVERED: The police recovered five vehicles which had been stolen from Karachi and were registered as non-custom paid vehicles in Malakand division after tampering with their chassis numbers.

District police officer Captain retired Furqan Bilal told mediapersons on Saturday that the vehicles had either been snatched or stolen from different localities of Karachi between 1994 to 2004, and were recently registered under the garb of non-custom paid vehicles.

He said the chassis numbers of vehicles were tampered with to hoodwink the officials of registration authority in Malakand.

He said the forgery surfaced when the local police scrutinised the details of the vehicles which matched with the stolen and snatched vehicles. Mr Bilal said more such vehicles would be traced as the campaign was in progress.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2018