The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) distributors on Sunday conditionally withdrew a hunger strike call which was given last week to force the government to take back the decision of linking local market price with import parity.
The latest development took place at a meeting here on Sunday between LPG distributors Association Pakistan (LPGDAP) and Senate Petroleum Committee Chairperson Dilawar Abbas.
The LPGDAP called off the strike after Dilawar assured them to take up the issue in the committee he heads, Abbas told Business Recorder after the meeting.
The government has recently announced to link the prices of LPG in the local market with that of international market in a decision that is being doubted as an attempt to benefit influential importers, producers and marketing companies.
The distributors reacted strongly and asked the government either to withdraw the decision or face their anger in the form of hunger strike, a move that can disturb supply to the hundreds of thousands of end consumers.
Shaukat Aziz-administration, the think-tank behind this decision, is already under immense criticism from all corners to facilitate influential elites at the cost of the poor.
The senator said LPGDAP office-bearers asked him to arrange their meeting with the government and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). "We (Senate committee) will be meeting in a couple of weeks and I am hopeful some solution will be reached at," Abbas told this scribe.
He said distributors were of the view that the decision of linking local marker price of the commodity with import parity would only help producers and marketing companies to enhance their profit.
Prior to the meeting of the committee, Abbas said, he would call authorities from the government and Ogra to look into what could be done in this regard.
The senator, however, did not mention whether he was hopeful the matter would be settled amicably.
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