KOHAT/SHANGLA: The shortage of petrol resulted in brawls and scuffles among people as well as between consumers and employees of filling stations at several places in Kohat.

On the eighth day of petrol shortage in the district, people tried to burn a filling station and manhandled a guard accusing the owner of providing petrol to government servants and army officials.

Brawls and fights were also witnessed among people over filling their vehicles first. However, police were seen nowhere to control the mobs and implement SOPs.

People attempted to burn down Attock petrol pump but the guard foiled the bid and held a man and called the fire brigade before the fire could engulf the whole station.

Guard foils bid to torch Kohat petrol pump

Similarly, brawls took place at Garrison petrol pump among the people, who forcibly entered the office of the manager, holding gallons in their hands.

They dragged out the guard of the office and beat him severely. They accused the owner of the filling station of providing petrol to government servants, police, army and his family members.

Most of the people spend the whole night at the filling stations to get petrol but when they reach the filling point they are told that there is no petrol which infuriates them.

Violations of SOPs, devised by the government to control spread of coronavirus, were also seen at the filling station as hundreds of people gathered at one place and jumped over each other.

In Shangla, petrol shortage has affected public transporters, motorists and business activities.

The residents of the district, particularly transporters, have been suffering owing to shortage petrol. Most of the filling stations have stopped selling petrol.

Local people said that consumers resorted to violence and fought with each other at some filling stations where petrol was available for some time.

They said that only Pakistan State Oil and few private stations provided petrol to people while the rest of the filling stations across the district were closed.

Rasool Shah, who was standing in a long queue at a filling station in Bisham, said that he came from Bazarkot Alpuri where stations had stopped selling petrol. He said that he had been waiting for the last three hours to get petrol in a gallon.

People waited all night for petrol but only few succeeded in getting petrol and others returned empty hands.

Fazal Rabi, who was present in Alpuri, said he had been waiting for his turn in a long queue but people did not follow the line and tried to get petrol out of turn.

He said that owing to shortage of petrol, people remained indoors in upper parts of the district. He said that they were not coming to open their shops at the bazaars.

Ibrahim Tabassum, manager of a private filling station, told Dawn that a depot from where they brought petrol ware not providing petrol to their tanker, present there for the last one week. Had the depots provided petrol to the filling stations, there would not have been a shortage of petrol.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020