Eid holidays: five-day gas supply to CNG stations in Punjab

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources (MPNR) has decided to provide five-day gas supply to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in Punjab on the occasion of Eid, Petroleum Ministry officials said. It was decided here in a meeting at the Ministry of Petroleum which was chaired by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Following the Petroleum Ministry decision, the management of Sui-Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) issued a notification, according to which, gas supply to CNG stations in Punjab will be restored from July 28 to August 2, 2014. The government has already issued notification for uninterrupted supply of natural gas to all CNG filling stations in Punjab from Monday, July 28, to Saturday, August 2, All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) Chairman Pervaiz Khan Khattak said.
Welcoming the government decision, he said it will help the masses to get affordable transportation facility during Eid holidays. Pervaiz Khattak said the weather was normalised and the monsoon rains have reduced electricity demand therefore the government has allowed to supply gas to the CNG sector.
He hoped the government will reconsider the existing load management schedule after Eid to benefit masses and CNG operators. To deal with the power crisis the government during the holy month of Ramadan has reduced the gas supply to CNG stations in Punjab from 48 hours a week to 18 hours a week.
The public is extremely offended at the government due to the ongoing CNG load-shedding. Majority of public transporters do not do their business when CNG is not available, that's five days a week, this causes not only a great loss to the transporters but the life of the commoners is also affected adversely. The students face difficulty in going to their educational institutes due to the unavailability of public transport. Same is the case with small-scale businesses and traders due to CNG load-shedding. The business of small-scale traders is also affected badly. These traders mostly use CNG vehicles to transport goods like vegetables, fruits, dairy products and baked items to shops.
According to CNG users, CNG stations remain open on Monday and Thursday from 6 am to 3 pm just for 9 hours, which result in long queues on CNG stations as well as wastage of time. Due to intensified gas load-shedding for the CNG sector not only Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) but majority of taxis are also going off the roads as van owners are complaining that current PSV fares did not even meet their expenditures, if they are running the vans on petrol or diesel. While cab owners are also of the view that passengers are not willing to pay the fares as per petrol prices, adding that CNG is almost 100 percent cheaper than the petrol.