ISLAMABAD-Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Industries Association of Pakistan on Wednesday announced to go on strike from April 11, in AJK, Gilgit Baltistan and Northern Areas in protest against the less profit margin and high transportation cost of the commodity.  
The announcement regarding the strike was made in a joint statement by Chairman  LPG Industries Association of Pakistan Irfran Khokhar, General Secretary Dr. Maqbool and Vice Chairman LPG Industries Distributors Association Asad Habib,  G-B President Syed Imran Shah, Chitral President Safeerullah, Bannu Division Banaras, Hazara Division Ch. Liaqat,, Mansehra President Haji Saeed and AJK President Shuakat Saleem.
They LPG Industries Association of Pakistan urged the OGRA to separately announce LPG consumer price for Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and for other northern areas.
LPG Industries Association of Pakistan Chairman Irfran Khokhar, in a statement, said that the OGRA should instruct related departments to announce separate margins for LPG marketing companies and distributors in GB and in AJK.
He also proposed that local governments and deputy commissioners should set up freight transportation cost with the coordination of LPG Distributors Association keeping in view the OGRA LPG consumers price every month.
He said that LPG played a vital role in household usage in northern areas of GB and AJK as weather usually remained cold.
A small domestic LPG cylinder of 11.8kg costs Rs350 to Rs400 in transportation charges which increases the cost of the LPG cylinder while decrease the margin of the distributors, said LPG Industries Association of Pakistan Chairman of Irfan Khokhar.
He said that distributors in Bagh and Battagram have already closed their outlets while the rest of AJK, GB and Northern Areas distributors are planning to go on strike from April 11.
He said that on the LPG cylinder of 11.8kg the transportation related cost to the hilly area is around Rs350 to Rs400 which makes it expensive in these areas while the profit margin of the distributors decreases.
On the other hand, the district administrations in these are trying to force the distributors to sell the LPG at a lower price which is not possible, he said.
He said while determining the LPG price, OGRA determines the marketing and distribution margin under the same column which should be changed. He said that OGRA should separately mention the marketing and distribution margin. 
Ideally, in these mountainous areas the LPG should always be easily accessible on affordable rates but it is not the case, he said.