HYDERABAD, May 22: The Sindh CNG Association on Wednesday refused to comply with the federal government’s decision not to supply CNG to large vehicles.

The federal government on Tuesday prohibited CNG supply to private vehicles of over 1,000cc engine in a bid to reduce gas consumption in the transport sector.

Office-bearers of the association told a press conference here that they would not comply with the decision.

They said that the caretaker government did not have the authority to take such a decision. They warned that if the government took any action against CNG stations in this regard, the association would organise protests and move courts.

The office-bearers, including chairman Dr Zulfiqar Ahmed Yousfani and joint secretary Umeed Ali Junejo of the association, said the decision to defy the order had been taken in an emergency meeting held earlier in the day. They termed the ban enmity with poor people who travelled in public transport, and said that it would affect owners of around two million large vehicles in the country.

They said that there were 3,000 CNG filling stations throughout the country, including 600 in Sindh, where over 200,000 people were associated directly and indirectly with the CNG sector. Besides, they said, around 2.5 million vehicles with CNG kits plied across Pakistan and two million of them were 1,000cc or more.

They said that putting an end to the rampant mismanagement in the gas sector, such as leakage of 17 per cent gas and ban on the use of big gas generators in factories and organisations, would be enough to make the CNG sector work efficiently.

They said that despite a ban on issuing licenses to CNG stations in the country 500 licences (including 40 in Sindh) had been awarded to stations all over Pakistan during the previous government’s tenure and millions of rupees had been pocketed by authorities in terms of bribes and commissions.

They said that since Sindh supplied 70 per cent gas requirement of the country and consumed only 30 per cent of it, it should be exempted from gas load shedding.

The Sindh CNG Association office-bearers termed the federal government’s decision as continuity of ‘revengeful action taken by corrupt former federal petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain’, saying that the decision would not only take a heavy toll on the CNG sector but would also deprive the poor masses of the facility of low fares while travelling in public transport. —Staff Correspondent