PESHAWAR: The district administration has sealed 13 filling stations in parts of Peshawar and arrested their managers for hoarding petrol and suspending fuel supply to motorists despite availability of sufficient stock.

A spokesman for the district administration said the action was taken on public complaints on Monday night. He said the owners of filling stations stopped petrol supply after reports about a possible Rs10 per litre increase in the fuel. However, the federal government did not revise the oil prices the last fortnight ending on Jan 31.

Sarhad Petroleum and Cartage Dealers Association’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Abdul Majid Khan also confirmed that some dealers on the University Road had hoarded the stocks.

“Our association will not support such people. Those violating the law should face legal action,” he said.

Mr Majid said the dealers, who had already made bank drafts for purchase of fuel should produce the relevant documentary proof to the administration to have their filling stations de-sealed. He said the traders should avoid hoarding petrol and earn legal profit.

Meanwhile according to APP, the district administration also sealed 22 restaurants and arrested their managers for violating coronavirus-related SOPs in different localities of the capital city.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2022