KARACHI - For the first time in Sindh, CNG stations will remain closed throughout winter, Sui Southern Gas (SSG) officials said on Thursday. According to the officials, a plan has been prepared to shut down all CNG stations beginning October 15.
“Only those pumps supplying LNG will remain open,” they added. The officials said that the CNG pumping stations that were shut down would resume operations after four months, in February.
“Pumps are now being shifted to LNG, rather than locally available gas supplies,” said pump owners. Sources told that approximately 108 out of 700 pumps had been shifted to LNG.
“Sindh, a province which was self-reliant in gas, would now be operating pumps on imported LNG,” remarked experts reacting to the development.
Two former corps commander Karachi pass away
Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Muzaffar Hussain Usmani and Lt Gen (retd) Naseer Akhtar passed away on Thursday. Both of the ex-military officials were former corps commanders of Karachi. Lt Gen (retd) Usmani breathed his last in Karachi while Lt Gen (retd) Akhtar passed away in Lahore.
According to the Superintendent of Police Clifton Imran Mirza, police had received information of a body lying inside a car near Khayaban-e-Shajar Park.
On arrival, the police saw that the car’s engine and headlights were switched on and found Lt Gen (retd) Usmani dead inside the vehicle.
According to SP Mirza, the former general — a resident of Karachi’s Gizri area — had died of cardiac arrest.
According to media reports, Lt Gen (retd) Usmani was appointed as the corps commander of Karachi during the martial law imposed in Pakistan in 1999. He retired in 2001.
Meanwhile, Lt Gen (retd) Akhtar’s family said the former military officer had passed away at a local hospital in Lahore where he was admitted for a couple of days.
The family said that the former corps commander was suffering from a medical condition that caused tremors in his body.
Akhtar’s funeral prayers will be offered at Lahore Cantt after Zuhr prayer.
Lt Gen (retd) Akhtar was served as corps commander Karachi from 1992 to 1994.
