CNG station owners reject gas tariff hike

PESHAWAR: The office-bearers and owners of the compressed natural gas (CNG) stations on Tuesday rejected 40 percent increase in gas prices and threatened to launch protest if the decision was not reversed forthwith.

Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, Real CNG Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chairman Muhammad Hamad Khan said the price of 1kg CNG would shoot up to Rs135 after the recent increase in prices of gas.

He said the federal government ignored the suggestions of CNG station owners and announced the decision unilaterally.

The office-bearer feared the decision would affect the CNG business in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Hamad Khan said there was an understanding between the government and owners of CNG stations according to which the former would maintain gap in the prices of petroleum products and CNG.

“The government usually fixes the prices of CNG 40 percent less compared to petroleum products but now after this increase the CNG has become costlier than POL,” he argued.

He said that motorists and public transporters would turn to petrol which would force the CNG owners to close down the gas stations.

Hamad said the low gas pressure for the past over two years had affected the CNG business in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat and Nowshera and the increase would hit their business hard.

“This would render thousands of people associated with the CNG business jobless,” he opinioned.

He said presently there were 522 CNG stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where 50,000 families depended directly or indirectly on the business.

The office-bearer said that mostly rickshaw drivers, public transporters and middle-class people used CNG as the primary fuel for their vehicles and the increase in prices of the commodity would affect the poor and the middle class.

Flanked by the vice-president of the Mardan CNG Association Nasir Khan and others, Hamad Khan said that they were being pushed to the wall and left with no option but to close their business or stage protests.

He criticised Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan for his statement that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh were enjoying gas. He pointed out that KP produced 70 percent of the total production of gas in the country while the KP CNG industry was hardly using 15 percent gas.

Hamad said that other taxes on the CNG were far higher in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa compared to Punjab.

He said the CNG association would consult the transporters to work jointly to force the government to reverse the decision.