CNG stations closure hit Karachiites hard

KARACHI Thousands of commuters suffered on Saturday due to closure of CNG stations for 36 hours and most of CNG rickshaws and private vehicles remained off the road, while station owners also refused to provide gas to the rescue services, so Karachiites also faced worst hardships to shift their patients to the hospitals. According to details, the Edhi and Chippa emergency services sent their messages that due to the shortage and closure of the CNG filling stations the rescue services was badly affected. They added, We are helpless to provide emergency services to victims of road traffic accidents. On Friday night when CNG stations were about to close, a massive traffic jam was witnessed across the city near CNG stations, where the vehicles owners, both private and commercial, were rushed to the station and tried to fill gas into their vehicles. Most of places also witnessed exchange of hot words among commuters and employees of the stations, while in some areas law and order situation was also reported and the personnel of law enforcement agencies had to disperse the people by using baton charge. At North Nazimabad area, an owner of the vehicle also took out the pistol and ordered to fill his vehicle on immediate basis. Due to this police of North Nazimabad Town also aired the emergency messages on their wireless sets to make contingency plan to restore the law and order situation in all places of the CNG stations. Talking to The Nation, a young man who was refused to fill gas informed that he has been standing here for two hours and when he got his turn he was informed that time was over. It is brutal act, we have to work tomorrow, how I would reach to my destiny when the tank of my car would be empty while the prices of petrol have too high for common people, he emotionally expressed. We have no choice but to wait till Sunday to fill our vehicles gas tanks, he added. On the other side, the fares of passengers vans and rickshaws have been increased due to non-availability of gas. Thousands of the commuters face hardships to reach their destiny, the passengers buses charged extra one or two rupees while rickshaws and taxi drivers reportedly asked Rs 50 extra as they claimed that they plying their vehicle on petrol and the prices of the petrol products are double than prices of CNG. It is pertinent to mention here that due to gas load management programme, it was agreed between SSGC and CNG Stations Owners Association that the filling stations would remain closed for 36 hours and would be opened on Sunday at 02:00 p.m. According to Sui Southern Gas Company statement, all CNG stations in Karachi and interior Sindh will close down their operations from midnight of Friday 22 April Saturday 23 April 2011 till noon on Sunday 24 April 2011. This was mutually agreed in a meeting convened amongst the SSGCs top management and the elected representatives of various CNG associations.