LAHORE: Petroleum ministry is not solely responsible for petrol crisis. Administrative mismanagement and lack of integration among the government institutions are too responsible for petrol shortage. These views were expressed by the speakers at Jang Economic Session on ‘shortage of petrol, gas and other basic necessities -how to improve economic governance’ here on Tuesday. The panellists were Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman, Iftikhar Tabasum, Saadat Ijaz, Usman Qadri, Khwaja Atif and Sajida Mir while the session was hosted by Sikandar Lodhi. Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman said reduction in petrol price increased its demand to the extent that people had to stand in lines to buy petrol. He said the petrol crisis was a result of poor governance and disturbance in buying inventory. He said the government increased tax rate on petroleum products after reduction in its international price which stole the real relief of consumers. He said 20-day inventory storage law was violated to create the present situation. He said the government should conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the crisis and punish those responsible for this fiasco. Iftikhar Tabasum said petrol consumption increased manifolds due to CNG shortage which created petrol crisis. He said the government should appoint competent officials in institutions and create integration and harmony among the institutions to avoid such crisis. He said the government should have anticipated the situation and taken necessary steps to avert the crisis. He believed correct economic policies could resolve public issues. He said the media played its role by creating panic which resulted in panic buying whereas the media should crate a positive image instead of spreading panic. Saadat Ijaz said Pakistanis were used to queues as they faced crisis of every items. He said shortage of basic necessities was portraying the performance of the government. He said chances of furnace oil shortage looming after petrol crisis. He said the government is found of SOS situation. He suggested strict actions against the incompetent government officials. Usman Qadri said petrol crisis was not only due to financial constraints faced by the PSO. He said an increase in petrol consumption and its storage and holding were causes of crisis. He said a few opportunists were selling petrol at high rates which increased public woes. He said oil companies did not maintain stocks due to fall in petroleum prices which was a bad management. He called for empowering the institutions in decision making to improve their performance. Khwaja Atif said both the government and finance ministry are equally responsible for the crisis. If timely funds would be released from the finance ministry, petrol would have not occurred. He said Ogra was also responsible for maintaining 21-day stock, but due to its incompetence, the situation worsened. He said three days in transporting petrol from Karachi to Lahore was also a cause of petrol crisis. Sajida Mir said petrol crisis is causing huge public loss. She said finance ministry was a real government and it should be safe from nepotism. She said the crisis was damaging economy more than sit-ins. She said the country was heading towards anarchy and called for imposition of economic governance.
