LAHORE: The city witnessed long queues of motorists at several petrol pumps on Thursday in a bid to get their vehicles’ fuel tanks filled following reports of a possible increase of Rs100 per litre in the price of petroleum products with effect from 12am.

The motorists also criticised the government for continuing to increase prices and ignoring the problems of common people.

“It seems that the poor common people are being pushed to the wall to squeeze every ounce of life from them. What will we do if the petrol price jumps to Rs500, which is currently over Rs393 per litre,” asked a motorist while talking to this reporter at a petrol pump in Johar Town.

“The government must give us relief to help us survive in these difficult times,” he added, while lashing out at the government.

Citizens criticise govt for continuing to increase prices

Long queues of motorists were reported at various fuel stations in Gulberg, Johar Town, Mughalpura, Faisal Town, Pine Avenue, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road, GT Road, Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, Khayaban-e-Firdasui, Khayaban-e-Jinnah and other localities of the city.

At a few petrol pumps, harsh words were also reportedly exchanged. “I am here for the last one hour but I am yet to get petrol. Some people are not following the lanes and are getting petrol earlier than those waiting in the queue for a long time,” said a motorist at a petrol pump at Ayub Chowk while expressing anger over the lane violators.

Another motorist claimed that at various pumps the sale of petrol had been closed intentionally so as to earn more profit.

“They (the pump owners) have oil stocks but they stopped sales so as to profit from the new rates,” he said, criticising the district admin for keeping mum on the situation and doing nothing to ensure sale of petrol and diesel at all pumps.

However, an official source in the city administration dispelled the impression stating that assistant commissioners in all 10 tehsils of Lahore city district had been inspecting petrol pumps.

Last Friday, the government announced a hike in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs26.77 each due to which the per litre price of both reached to Rs393.35 and Rs380.19 respectively. Petrol is mostly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers and increase in its price affects the middle and lower-middle class. Similarly, the increase in diesel prices also impacts the public at large since it is mainly used in the heavy transport sector, plants and large generators.

Following the US-Israeli war on Iran, the government initially increased petrol and diesel prices by Rs55 per litre on March 6 besides announcing unprecedented austerity measures on March 9. On April 2, the government again increased petrol and diesel prices by 43pc and 55pc respectively.

However, PM Shehbaz Sharif intervened following severe criticism from the public and slashed the petroleum levy by Rs80 per litre, bringing the price of petrol down to Rs378 per litre. On April 10, the PM further decreased diesel prices and petrol prices by Rs135 and Rs12 per litre respectively. Before the last increase, the PM Shehbaz had approved Rs32.12 reduction in the price of diesel. However, the price of petrol was kept unchanged and finally, last Friday, the government again increased prices of petrol and diesel by nearly Rs27 per litre.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2026