The strike of CNG station operators in southern Punjab entered second day on Thursday. The NG dealers had vowed to stage an indefinite strike in protest against the imposition of the proposed Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) in the finance bill.
However, petroleum dealers did not support the CNG station operators' strike call and did not close their units. Transporters were seen fleecing commuters by over-charging as much as 20 percent above usual fares on inter-city routes. The suspension of CNG station service created nuisance for people working in government, semi-government, autonomous institutions and private firms. A spokesman of APCNGA Muhammad Shiraz Bashir said that the strike would continue untill the government reversed the decision and withdrew higher cess on the CNG sector.
Shiraz said: "The ministry of petroleum and natural resources proposed Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) rate of up to Rs 300 per Million British Thermal Unit MMBTU for fiscal year 2012-13. While the federal government expected to generate a revenue of Rs 30 billion through existing cess rates fixed for CNG, fertiliser and power sectors.
The finance bill, titled GIDC Act 2011, second schedule, revealed that petroleum managers proposed rate of Rs 300/MMBTU for CNG sector lying under region-I comprising Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Potohar (Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Gujar Khan), while Rs 200/MMBTU had been set for region-II Sindh and Punjab (excluding the Potohar Region). Subsequently, we have decided to shut gas stations for indefinite period across the country from Wednesday."