KARACHI, Dec 7: While the electricity supply situation across the city remained precarious on Wednesday, the Sui Southern Gas Company announced an 18-hour closure of CNG stations beginning at 11pm on Thursday to ensure increased gas supply to the Karachi Electric Supply Company, which threatened to resume industrial loadshedding if 180MMCFD gas was not supplied to it.

The decision was taken in accordance with the federal government’s gas load management plan, said an SSGC spokesperson, adding that the gas company had decided to shut down gas supply to the CNG stations in Karachi and the interior of Sindh from 11pm on Thursday till 5pm on Friday.

According to the original plan, the second closure of CNG was to begin on Wednesday.

The decision to close CNG stations for 18 hours was taken at a meeting held between the SSGC management and office-bearers of CNG associations on Wednesday.

The company requested its CNG industry stakeholders to close their operations for 18 hours in view of the winter load caused by an additional consumption of gas in the northern part of Sindh and the whole of Balochistan.

Meanwhile, the committee set up to express solidarity with the KESC workers threatened to revive street protests and sit-ins if the KESC management did not change its ‘anti-worker attitude’.