A report which has appeared in the print media that the country’s 10 month oil import bill has soared to staggering figure of 12.5 billion dollars is quite alarming, indeed. The figure is all set to go still further higher, to be the highest ever, by the time the outgoing financial year ends on June 30, 2012 with oil imports continuing to meet domestic needs. This is so because the country is meeting as high as 85 percent of its requirements through oil imports, according to official figures published earlier this month. This itself is very alarming also. A country almost entirely dependent on oil imports cannot be considered independent and sovereign in any respect.
In view of this alarming situation, there is dire need for adopting some fuel saving measures on top most priority basis both in the public and private sectors to ensure that not only oil import bill do not  further higher than this level but also it is curtailed and brought down to the reasonable level. The federal and provincial governments have huge fleets of vehicles including pretty large number of luxury cars which consume much oil. Increasing number of vehicles on the roads in the private sector add to the oil consumption considerably. It is rather shocking and shameful, to say the least, that we go on consuming more and more oil ignoring the bitter fact that most of it is imported for which we are paying through our noses and there are no consideration to somehow ensure saving in this regard.
There are some gadgets and equipments, manufactured and tested abroad, which are now available in local market also. Importers of an innovative Japanese technology based small equipment claim that it gives fuel saving to an appreciable level of as much as 25 percent with less oil consumed without compromising on the mileage done. Why such an equipment is not tried individually as well as collectively in the public and private sectors? We cannot keep a constraint on increasing prices of oil products in the international market but we can certainly make concerted efforts to keep the oil import bill on as much lower side as possible through adoption of some fuel saving measures which have become the dire need of the hour.
M.ZAHID RIFAT,
Lahore, May 29.