Various cities of the country may face fuel shortages in coming days as the strike of All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners' Association (APOTOA) entered 3rd consecutive day on Wednesday after negotiations with Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and National Logistic Cell (NLC) administrations ended without any positive note. Talking to media, the Central Senior Vice Chairman APOTOA Mir Shams Shahwani said that the oil supply would remain suspended to the entire country till resolution of their demands.
"PSO was violating its own set rules," Shams said elaborating a queue system was introduced for loading of tankers at fuel station on a 'fist come and first load basis back in 2013. The procedure used to be properly followed by both the PSO officials and tanker drivers till 2016. However, the problems started when PSO began awarding oil transpiration contract to NLC. Since that, our drivers are facing difficulties in getting their tankers loaded as the queue system has now been ignored by the PSO officials, he said.
He asked the oil tanker owners to keep their fuel carriers parked at the depots as long as the issues are not addressed. "We held the 3rd round of negotiations with the PSO and NLC administrations under the supervision of DG Rangers Wednesday wherein we have submitted our demands. No immediate response came from either sides till yet," Shahwani said. The strike would continue till the resolution of our demands, he concluded.