LAHORE, May 3: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s decision to increase price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on Thursday drew a sharp criticism from different sections of the society, including distributors.

“The sale of LPG has already dropped by 30 per cent due to changing weather,” says Irfan Khokhar of the Distributors Association Pakistan. This drop, according to him, means a corresponding cut in distributors income. “The fresh increase will only add to our financial woes, and may drive us out of business.” He demanded withdrawal of all import taxes on LPG in the next budget so that some life could be injected into LPG business. The government, he said, must form a committee for devising ways to protect business, otherwise thousands of people involved in it ran the risk of unemployment, he warned.

“The government has been encouraging rickshaw and taxi drivers to shift their vehicles to other forms of fuel than petrol,” says Muhammad Sadique, a rickshaw driver from Wahdat Colony.