Rawalpindi
As per routine in winter, retailers and wholesale dealers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) are taking full advantage of inefficiency of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) which has failed to provide gas to domestic consumers.
The helpless public is not only paying huge amount of gas bills but also buying LPG from retailers and wholesale dealers as they are selling 1-kilogram LPG at Rs130-Rs150 against Rs100.
Residents of Adiala Road, Munawar Colony, Defense Road, Usama Street, Dhoke Juma, Kalyal, Jarahi, Mubarak Lane, Al-Mumtaz Colony, Tulsa Road, Sherzaman Colony and Gulshanabad are facing worst situation for a month.
Already, more than 50 per cent people who do not have gas connections in their houses have been using LPG as fuel but nowadays in severe winter around 100 per cent consumers are using alternative sources of fuel including LPG due to absence of natural gas in homes. Due to it, retailers and dealers are openly ignoring the directions of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and looting helpless consumers with both hands.
All Pakistan LPG Dealers Association Chairman Irfan Khokhar strongly condemned retailers for charging prices at their will. He admitted that LPG prices are increasing on daily basis creating financial difficulties for general public. He said that concerned authorities should take strict action against profiteers for selling LPG in black and overcharging continuously.
According to available data from city district government, Rawalpindi that there is 6,945 LPG shops in different areas while majority of shops are in residential localities. Almost all retailers are overcharging consumers by Rs30 to Rs50 per kilogram.
“I am surprised that SNGPL is not providing us gas even in normal weather and has also left us on the sweet will of LPG looters,” Sajid Mehmood Butt, a resident of Defense Road said. He said that some time they buy food items from hotels but its prices are also unaffordable for a middle class family.
Samina Naaz, a housewife from Adiala Road said that there was no gas in her locality for a month and they had no other option but to use expensive LPG for preparing food.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) General Manager (Rawalpindi Circle) Muhammad Zahoor said that they were busy in boosting up gas pressure even in tail end localities particularly Adiala Road. The consumers would feel big difference in some days in this regard, he assured.