Following reports about hoarding and overcharging for petrol and diesel, the Punjab government has formed special raiding teams, headed by District Coordination Officers (DCOs), to check hoarding and overcharging for petrol and diesel throughout the province.
The decision to this effect was taken on the direction of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The raiding teams would conduct surprise raids on petrol pumps and the persons found involved in hoarding and overcharging would be prosecuted under the law. The matter regarding diesel shortage was also recently taken up in the Punjab Assembly, where Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira admitted that diesel shortage had been artificially created by stockists and fuel pump owners.
According to agriculture experts, southern Punjab was faced with diesel shortage and a crisis was looming if the issue was not addressed on immediate basis. The farmers were facing problems in running tube-wells and tractors due to the shortage of diesel, they said. The shortage of commodity would have a negative impact on the sowing of rice and cotton crops, they added.
Sowing of rice is round the corner while cotton sowing is already going on in a number of districts. The farmers of Punjab are the main affectees due to the shortage of diesel and non-availability of diesel has shut down more than 0.7 million tube-wells while 0.5 million tractors have stopped, sources claimed.
If the government failed to solve shortage of diesel issue, the farmers would fail to sow rice in the coming season, said Akhter Farooq, a spokesman of Kissan Board Pakistan. The spokesman of Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association said that oil companies had stopped supply of diesel to petrol pumps. He said that petroleum companies have strictly asked the owners of petrol pumps and dealers not to give diesel in drums and tins, while the companies have also supplied the diesel against the demand of the pump owners.