I reached a CNG filling station situated in Block-7, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi (opposite Safari Park) at around 08:00 am on March 13, 2007. After getting the car filled up the cashier demanded a full amount of Rs 179 whereas the meter had shown little over Rs 178.
When I offered to pay Rs 178.50 the cashier refused to accept it and gave the logic that they operate on the unit system. Drawing corollary with the PCOs who operate on the unit system he claimed that even if the amount is 10 paisa above a rupee the customer is supposed to pay the full amount. Subsequently I had no option but to pay the amount as demanded by the cashier.
The said system being applied at this station is, perhaps new to me and I have perhaps never witnessed it in any part of the city. Given the fact that during the day hundreds of cars would be lining up for filling at this station which perhaps operates at least twenty hours a day, one can very well imagine the amount which is being overcharged by this filling station on a daily basis.
Can anyone of the scores of government departments, like OGRA, City Government, SSGC etc take action against this practice or it is another thing of the already existing so many other instances about which the citizens would have to bear the brunt and keep mum.