RAHIM YAR KHAN: The shortage of diesel at the petrol pumps in Rahim Yar Khan is affecting the sowing of cotton and harvesting of the wheat crop.

In Rahim Yar Khan, petrol pumps stopped the sale of petrol on Monday as well, which resulted in long queues of motorists at different filling stations.

A farmer of Chak 72-NP, Muhammad Imran, told Dawn that only influential farmers were getting diesel whereas the common farmer had been deprived of the commodity.

Another farmer of Pull Sunny, Nasir Baloch, said that he tried many times to get his tractor tank full of diesel but failed. He said that he was facing hardships to purchase diesel for a month.

A petrol pump owner requesting anonymity said the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) had downgraded its diesel supply quota to dealers. He said earlier a petrol pump owner was bound to buy 160 litres of lubricants with every 100,000 litres of diesel, and now under a new policy, an old vision petrol pump will purchase 320 litres of lubricants every month with the purchase of more than 10,000 litres of petrol or diesel and the new vision pump will purchase 700 litres each month with the purchase of the same quantity of diesel or petrol.

He alleged the monopoly of the PSO was directly benefiting the officers of PSO. He said there was no shortage of diesel and petrol on depots, but PSO officials were not delivering the diesel and petrol because of the expected increase in prices. Once prices are increased, the supply will be restored, he claimed.

President of District Petroleum Association Zafar Mazari told Dawn that few filling stations of PSO and Parco were selling petrol and diesel in limited quantity. He said common buyers of diesel or petrol wanted to purchase the maximum quantity of diesel before the increase of rates to get maximum benefit but petroleum dealers were out of stocks.

PSO District Sales Officer Adnan Naqvi refused to comment on the situation.

BAHAWALNAGAR: Standing in long queues with canes, farmers expressed their anger over the prolonged shortage of diesel across the district.

They said they had been running from one filling station to another for the past 15 days, however, they failed to get a drop of oil because 95 per cent of the filling stations had stopped selling diesel and the remaining were selling substandard diesel at a higher price.

They feared if the diesel supply was not stabilized, their harvested crops would get damaged because of high wind and possible rains in the next few days. They said that during the tenure of the PTI government, they had to buy urea fertilizer at higher prices from the black market and now they had to face price hikes and rationing of fuel.

They said the fuel was in high demand for wheat harvesting, threshing, and transportation. An operator of the PSO, however, claimed an uninterrupted supply of diesel at their affiliated filling stations across the province, when this scribe called their helpline to know their version about the shortage of diesel.

The farmers said the government’s plan to increase diesel prices had led to its price hike and hoarding and demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif take notice of the matter and ensure an immediate supply of diesel.

SAHIWAL: Around three dozen activists of the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad blocked Bahawalnagar Road and protested against the shortage of diesel in Arifwala and surrounding localities.

Local petrol pump owners said they had been given less than 25pc of the total diesel sought by companies.

Chaudhry Shafqat Javed, owners of two petrol pumps in Sahiwal city, said companies were given less than 5,000 litres of diesel per week while no supply was done on Saturdays and Sundays.

OKARA: As the finance minister has reportedly agreed to raise the prices of petroleum products, filling station owners have created a shortage of diesel.

This correspondent visited petrol pumps where the salesmen said though diesel was available in stocks, keeping in view an expected rise in diesel prices, pump owners have created an artificial shortage.

Pakistan Kissan Board President Chaudhry Shaukat Chaddar demanded the district administration immediately raid the pumps to check their stock position.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2022