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Nanbai association protests against increased RLNG tariff

By APP
August 28, 2018

Islamabad: General Nanbai Association (GNA) on Monday held a protest demonstration against increased tariff of Regasified Liquified Natural Gas (RLNG) in front of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) regional office here.

They also voiced concerns over issuance of utility bills thrice a month, terming the practice a violation of standard rules under which consumer pays the bill after a month. They demanded immediate withdrawal of the increased tariff and streamline the bills'' issuing procedure, intending to extend and continue the protest in coming days, if the concerns were not addressed.

Terming the increased tariff ''unjustified,'' they feared that it would affect their business and put extra burden on the common man because of subsequent surge in bread price. Talking to APP, GNA President Fazal Kareem Abbasi said they were registering their protest peacefully and would not go without getting any assurance by the SNGPL with regard to withdrawal of the increased tariff.

Rejecting the tariff, Fazal regretted that around 128 percent increase were made in the RLNG tariff around six months ago, following which some Nanbais had been changed from natural gas users to RLNG consumer.

"Earlier, the SNGPL was charging Rs700 MMBTU to a ‘Tandoor’ till 2017 but now the company is charging around 1600 MMBTU after conversion of the natural gas connections to RLNG and changing the status of a ‘Tandoor’ to restaurant just only to justify the tariff," he added.

The president informed that the company imposed the tariff without safeguarding the interest of a nanbai, who belong to illiterate segment of society, adding that instead of giving any warning, the SNGPL started issuing three bills in a month.

A bread maker Muhammad Sajjad who was part of the demonstration said that he recently received a bill of Rs110,130 against three months while the same time another nanbai running ‘Lajpal Nan Centre’ paid a gas bill of Rs33,000 for two months, terming it a blatant contradiction and violation of fundamental rights.

Mentioning an official of the SNGPL facing corruption charges of 0.8 million, Sajjad alleged that the officials were giving relaxation to the people who either came up with a reference or pay bribe.

Meanwhile, Joint Secretary of Nanbai Association, Rawalpindi, Mehmood Ahmed said they managed to get stay order from the court against the tariff and were not paying any extra charges.

He urged the authorities concerned to educate a nanbai appropriately before imposing any kind of tax. Deputy Chief Sale Department of SNGPL Sardar Nawaz said that RLNG is a policy name and responding to question about price rise, he said, it gradually increased with the surge in dollar price.

The RLNG is actually a form of LNG that is being imported from Qatar and transported to Karachi terminals where it is regasified after a process and disseminated across the country through pipelines, he explained.

The authorities concerned were not providing any kind of subsidy as it was being given to domestic consumers, Sardar added. The distribution companies (SNGPL and Sui Southern Gas Limited), Sardar informed, were not importing the LNG directly for which the department concerned had to involve Pakistan State Oil (PSO) having experience of import.

Answering a question, he said, the SNGPL had to make payments in advance to Pakistan State Oil for which they were issuing utility bill more than once in a month. Another SNGPL official rejected the allegation of corruption and asked to bring evidence, if any, as claimed by the association. Answering a query, he said, the bread makers were trying to befool the authorities by separating Tandoor from restaurants to avoid the tariff.