KARACHI, Jan 7: The LPG retailers in Karachi have rejected the retail rate of Rs63 per kg fixed by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and LPG Association of Pakistan (LPGAP) on Jan 4 as they were openly selling gas at Rs68 per kg.

However, there are reports of crackdown on distributors and retailers in Lahore for fleecing consumers, and charging more than the announced retail price.

Chairman, Lahore-based LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan, Irfan Khokar, claimed that dozens of retailers and distributors had been apprehended in Lahore for over-charging while many retailers had pulled down their shutters for fear of being arrested.

He said the Ogra and the LPGAP, a group of marketing companies, had initiated a crackdown on retailers and distributors without ensuring that a majority of marketing companies had not yet reduced the 11.8kg LPG cylinder prices, and, so far, only a few companies had reduced prices.

He said that when rates of many companies were hovering between Rs 800 and 1,000 per 11.8 kg, how could the distributors and retailers sell gas at reduced rates.

In Lahore, gas remained short and it was selling between Rs120 and 130 per kg at some places, he further claimed, adding many rickshaw and taxi owners had to park their vehicles as they either ran out of gas or could not procure at higher rates.

The government, he said, was not realising the current gas demand which had surged to 2,200 tons a day in cold weather as compared with 1,700 tons per day of local production.

Chairman, Karachi-based LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan (LPGDAP), Abdul Hadi Khan said the LPG retail price advertisement had been issued without ascertaining the market reality as many companies had not reduced the cylinder price to Rs746 and only a few companies had made the price cut.

When all the marketing companies would jointly make the price reduction, then its impact could be felt at the retail level, he said. He, however, said some action had been taken against retailers and distributors in Lahore.

The City Nazim of Lahore had convened a meeting of all the distributors’ body and the LPGAP on Tuesday to discuss the LPG price issue. He said there were no reports of any action against retailers or distributors in Karachi.

In sharp contrast, the spokesman for the LPGAP, Fasih Ahmed rejected the claim of two distributors’ body that a majority of the marketing companies had not reduced gas price.

“Only two companies, out of 63 marketing companies, have not slashed rates, so far, as per Ogra directives,” he stated, adding distributors have been playing a havoc with prices.