December 18, 2009
By Irfan Aligi
KARACHI: CNG Station Owners Association (CSOAP) and CNG Dealers Association (CDA) have announced disassociation from the strike call given by a CNG association for Dec 20.
In a statement issued on Friday, CSOAP chairman Malik Khuda Bakhsh and CDA president Abdus Sami Khan has said that the call for strike call was not in the interest of CNG station owners and dealers and it would serve the government's interest of resorting to load shedding.
They said that both the associations were opposing gas load shedding for CNG stations and also increase in the prices of natural gas.
As a result of hectic efforts, CNG stations in Sindh and Balochistan were exempted from gas load shedding and the government was convinced to extend gas load shedding period from Nov 15 to Dec 12, they added.
Bakhsh and Khan have jointly clarified that CSOAP and CDA were registered in 2001 and 1992 respectively and they have been invited and consulted by Ministry of Petroleum and HDIP for every meeting.
They urged government not to raise gas prices because ‘CNG Policy-1992’ envisages a price difference of 50 percent to ensure consumers should get a cheaper fuel.
The said policy has attracted an investment of Rs 160 billion in CNG sector, they noted.
They pointed out that in Feb 2007, government had changed CNG tariff from industrial category to above commercial category, which was exorbitant and against the policy.
They rejected the statement of Finance Minister in which he supported the idea to take CNG rates closer to petrol and promote the use of petrol among motorists, adding that it was government’s liability to provide cheaper and environment friendly fuel to consumers.
They were of the view that some elements in government ranks were bent upon destroying CNG industry, which would not only hurt 3 million users but also affect the environment.
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