All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) has threatened to shutdown all CNG pumps if the government did not roll back the recent decision of increasing gas price. This was stated by Tariq Kandaan, chairman APCNGA at a press conference held at Federation House on Monday.
He said that Shaukat Tarin, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance in this regard had given positive response and had assured to take all stakeholders on board before taking any decision. He said that Tarin would convene a meeting to resolve the issues being faced by the industry and hoped that the government would withdraw the recent hike in gas price.
Describing the core agenda of a meeting, he said that APCNGA would ask to restore the General Industrial Tariff (GIT), which was significant for the development of the industry, he said.
Furthermore, he said the association would also urge the government to regulate the gas tariff in accordance with crude oil price, which was earlier being practices during surge in oil price, globally.
Later, Malik Khuda Buksh, Chairman, CNG Owners Association and Abdul Sami Khan, CNG Dealers Association termed the decision to overcome gas shortage during winter by starting gas load shedding in the CNG industry as illogical.
They said that the CNG industry consumed only 5.86 percent of total gas production, which would not create any positive impact on domestic consumers.
They feared that if the CNG and gasoline prices were equal then over Rs 60 billion, which have been invested by the middle and lower middle income groups to convert their vehicles on CNG, would be wasted. A large number of associations' members were present at the press conference.