All Ghee and cooking oil mills located in Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan division remained closed on second consecutive day in protest against transporters. It may be mentioned here that four tankers carrying consignments of edible oil were set on fire in Karachi on Friday.
Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) has decided that the gates of all the Ghee and cooking oil mills would remain closed from Saturday to show solidarity with the NLC, whose services the PVMA uses for the transportation of consignments.
The PVMA said that the mills would be kept closed until the government gave an assurance of providing security for the safe transportation of edible oil consignments from Karachi to other destinations.
According to the PVMA, to ensure smooth supply of oil to Ghee mills all over Pakistan, National Logistic Cell (NLC) was hired by the PVMA.
On February 17, 2012, tankers mafia flouted the orders of High Court and burnt four vehicles of NLC loaded with edible oil.
"We have closed down 96 Ghee and cooking oil units all over the country from Saturday," said Ahsan Rasheed, a leading name in oil manufacturing industry in South Punjab.
The incident and non-compliance of SHC directions have created a wave of fear and uncertainty among manufacturers of vegetable Ghee and cooking oil.
Ahsan said that they were interested in hiring the services of the NLC for transportation of the oil from ports' terminals to factories, as it was cheaper and safer and there was no fear of theft on the way.
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