The hapless people of our country were given the ‘happy news’ by the government, in late March, that from April 1 CNG would be available daily for 8 hours and on Sundays for 18 hours. The people heaved a sigh of relief thinking that their financial miseries would be reduced to some extent with the continued availability of a fuel that cost one third the price of petrol. When the actual notification was issued, it was revealed that CNG would be available for only 6 hours daily from 10am to 4pm from Mondays to Saturdays (during peak office and business hours ) and from 6am to midnight on Sunday, irrespective of electricity load shedding and low gas pressure.
In fact people did not realize that the government had reduced the hours of weekly supply of CNG from 72 to 54. Previously the hard pressed people could queue up at night or early morning to get their tanks filled, but now they had no choice but to wait in long lines in rush hours with no guarantee that they would be successful in reaching the pump within the 6 hour window they got each day by sacrificing their valuable time which they otherwise spent in earning their daily bread, notwithstanding the huge economic loss the country has to suffer for less work done each day. Continued exploitation of the poor by those in power through their nauseating display of wealth and authority does not auger well for the latter as proven by history many a times.
JALALUDDIN SUHAIL,
Islamabad, April 8.