ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) has strongly criticised Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) for discontinuation of gas supply to CNG stations across the Punjab province.

In a statement on Thursday, APCNGA Central Chairman Brig (R) Iftikhar Ahmed said that thousands of CNG stations would not get any RLNG from December 28 2018 to January 10, 2019 which is unjustified as it will add to the miseries of masses transporters and owners of CNG filling stations.

He said that CNG stations in Punjab shifted from economical natural gas to costly RLNG following the assurances of authorities that its supply will not be discontinued but it proved otherwise. And now the supply of gas has been suspended for fourteen days on the pretext of maintenance in the terminal which is contrary to the facts.

He said that the fact remains that because of ill planning and mismanagement enough LNG was not imported to satisfy the demand of the consumers which has resulted in a shortfall, leading to the unilateral and ill-timed decision.

Brig (R) Iftikhar said that it is amazing that the government intentionally stopped imports and has not allowed any other party to import the same resulting in a crisis.

He said that APCNGA knew that a gas crisis will surface in the winter and it tried to convince authorities to take corrective measures but all requests fell on deaf ears.

Rejecting the latest plan of gas utility, he said that all the burden of mismanagement of the authorities should not be put on the CNG sector which is paying the highest tariff rather it should be distributed among all the gas consuming sectors.

The leader of the CNG sector said that SNGPL’s plan would increase miseries of millions of people across Punjab. The CNG association is considering the options to strongly protest against this decision if the government failed to take immediate corrective action and reverse the decision.