LAHORE, Aug 30: The LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan has appealed to the president and the prime minister to take notice of blackmarketing of liquefied petroleum gas and direct the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to take steps for ensuring its availability at reasonable prices.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, association chairman Irfan Khokhar said the LPG business was heading towards a crisis because its retail price had almost doubled during the past one year.

The gas available for Rs25 per kilo in August last year was now being sold for over Rs55 on account of price revisions by the producers and sale of indigenously produced gas at the import price.

The price had been increased from Rs19,644 per ton to Rs28,847 during the past four months alone, he said.

He said the government should check blackmarketing of LPG exempting it from all taxes by allowing its duty-free import, checking the sale of locally produced gas at import prices and compelling the producers to withdraw unjustified increase in prices.

He said the LPG price would go out of the reach of the common run of people if steps were not taken to check its blackmarketing.

He said the distributors would suspend business and hand over the keys to OGRA in case the government failed to take any action on their proposals for controlling its blackmarketing.