All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Wednesday announced to observe a one-day strike on Friday against the recent increase in CNG prices. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Chairman of All Pakistan CNG Association Ghayas Paracha said that the government should stop Pakistan State Oil (PSO) from fixing prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
He said that over the past two months, the price of CNG had increased by as much as Rs 25 and the government had allowed marketing companies to increase prices, which had added to the miseries of common man. He said that the government should control prices, instead of allowing private entities to decide about such a sensitive issue. He said that prices were increased on weekly basis and if the government wanted to increase CNG prices on weekly basis, it should disclose the actual price of gas.
Chairman of the CNG association further said that the CNG sector was the largest tax payer, but the government was still treating it in a step-motherly fashion. "The CNG sector is paying Rs 70 million per day as cess and is using 9.1 of the total gas while and because of load-shedding, the ratio has decreased to just 6.8 percent,:" Paracha added.
Ghiyas Paracha said that an amount of Rs 12.70 billion is pending with Sui Northern Gas Company Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) because gas companies were billing on monthly basis while government had adopted new mechanism for determining CNG prices. He also vowed to stage a sit-in outside the office of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) if the authority failed to change its discriminatory policy towards the CNG sector.
He said that government was targeting the CNG sector. "Therefore, we have decided to observe a one-day strike." Paracha said that from January 1 this year, the CNG sector had been paying Rs 298 million per day as Cess while the government was earning Rs 1,659 million per day from the gas sector.
Chairman APCNGA said that Cess was not being utilised to initiate new gas import projects, therefore, "it is unfair". He said that SNGPL "is trying to increase unaccounted-for gas (UFG). They are using delaying tactics and billing on monthly basis". Paracha urged the authorities concerned to keep gas companies' billing procedure accurate. He also demanded of President Asif Ali Zardari to decrease cess on CNG sector and not to allow oil marketing companies to determine its price.