Sale of petrol to bikers without helmets: Petrol pump owners resent imposition of fines

PESHAWAR: The petrol pumps owners here on Tuesday resented the imposition of heavy fines and sealing of filling stations due to violation of district administration’s orders about ban on the sale of petrol to bikers without helmets.

The issues were raised during a meeting of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Standing Committee on Petroleum, which was chaired by the chamber’s president Engineer Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz here on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by the committee chairman Mansoor Sharif, senior vice chairman Muhammad Ibrahim, vice chairman Hafeezullah Marwat, vice chairman Abdul Jalil Jan Afridi, member Altaf Khan, Majid, Khalil Naeem Khan, Adnan Anwar, Farooq Wajid, Hamid Shah, Ashfaq, Rizwan, Tariq and others. The meeting said that the decision of district authorities to ban the sale of petrol to bikers without helmets was affecting their business. It was the responsibility of traffic police, excise and other relevant departments to implement road safety rules, the meeting added. The meeting also condemned the increasing incidents of robberies and dacoities at petrol pumps and asked the government to ensure the provision of security to them.

The participants in the meeting called on the government to take notice of misbehaviour of district administration officials with the managers of the filling stations and the staff.

They said the checking/testing quality of petrol should be done by the provincial Labour Department. They also expressed concern over checking of cleanliness by district administration at petrol pumps. The meeting participants said that traffic rules should be implemented through the department concerned instead of asking petrol pumps to enforce the traffic laws.