PESHAWAR, June 15: Most transporters on Saturday pulled vehicles off the capital city roads due to closure of CNG stations.
Limited availability of public transporters led to the fleecing of commuters, especially by cabbies.
The CNG stations were closed due to abrupt suspension of gas supply to them.
According to an official of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, gas supply to CNG stations has been suspended due to an annual maintenance of Makori gas field for one day only.
“It’s unavoidable,” he said.
However, All Pakistan CNG Association declared the move illegal, saying SNGPL didn’t announce it in the media to the misery of common man.
“In the past, the annual turnaround of gas fields were announced a month before its happening in the media,” APCNGA Chairman Ghayas Paracha told Dawn over the telephone.
He said the government should explain why gas supply had been suspended to CNG stations without prior intimation, which stressed out the people, especially commuters across the province.
Bus terminals and stops had the people, including women and children, in large numbers. They waited in vain for public transport long before returning home.
Some, who could afford, opted to reach destinations by taxi though cabbies overcharged them.
In absence of public transport vehicles, many, especially those bound for other cities, were seen traveling on the roads with luggage on heads and shoulders.
A great rush of commuters was seen at Hashtnagri, Firdus, Shoba, Saddar, Saddar and other bus stops on University Road.
The limited public transport vehicles plying the roads cashed on the situation by overcharging travelers at will. Those transporters justified the act of overcharging, saying their vehicles were run on diesel and petrol instead of CNG, so they had no option but to charge the people almost double the normal fare.
The local administration and transport authorities didn’t bother to step in to the misery of commuters.
Khan Zaman Afridi, president of Peshawar Urban Transport Union, said transporters were forced into pulling vehicles off the roads.
“There is no CNG and the prices of petroleum products have gone up,” he said.
Mr Afridi also said there was a ban on use of double gas tanks on rooftop of public transport vehicles, so transporters had to run vehicles on petrol instead of CNG.
“Petrol is costlier than CNG. The difference between their prices is around Rs26 per kilogramme. The transporters have two options either to charge more or pull vehicles off the roads. Most of them have gone for the second,” he said.
Also in the day, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transport Owners Federation organised a demonstration on GT Road against the recent increase in CNG and petroleum prices and urged the government to withdraw the increase in view of high inflation rate.
“We cannot operate transport under the current circumstances. The government will have to cut the prices of petroleum products and CNG or revise fare accordingly,” Zahir Shah, president of the federation, told reporters.
He said gas and electricity was produced in the province but the local residents were not given the benefits of it.
“The suspension of gas supply to CNG stations without prior notice is beyond comprehension and unacceptable,” he said.