PESHAWAR: Owners of petrol pumps here on Saturday resented the imposition of heavy fines and sealing of filling stations over violation of the district administration’s orders about ban on sale of petrol to motorcyclists not wearing helmet. They warned to announce a protest strike if the action was not stopped forthwith.

The demand was made during a meeting of representatives of Sarhad Petroleum and Cartage Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with office-bearers of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the chamber here with SCCI president Sherbaz Bilour in the chair.

The representatives of petrol pump owners, including Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz and office-bearers Abdul Majeed, Hafizullah Marwat, Taimoor Zeb Khan, Mian Shafiq Ahmad and others, shared details about the actions against filling stations.

The meeting said that the decision of district authorities to ban the sale of petrol to bikers without helmet would create mistrust with the government and hurt businesses.

“It is the responsibility of traffic police, excise and other relevant subordinate departments to implement road safety rules, but the duty has been shifted from government officials to the business community, which was unacceptable,” said the participants.

The meeting also condemned the increasing robbery incidents at petrol pumps and demanded that pragmatic steps should be taken for provision of proper security to the filling stations.

The participants asked the provincial government to take notice of, what they called, misbehaviour of district administration officials with the managers and staff of filling stations. They said that checking/testing quality of petrol should only be done by the provincial labour department instead of officials of other departments.

The speakers also expressed concern over checking of cleanliness by district administration at petrol pumps.

Earlier, during a meeting of SCCI Standing Committee on Petroleum, names of the office-bearers of the Sarhad Petroleum and Cartage Association were approved.

According to a statement, Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz was named as patron-in-chief of the association, Abdul Majeed chairman, Hafizullah Marwat general secretary and Abid Khan finance secretary.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2020