PESHAWAR: The federal government has requested the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to help the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited implement the Winter Gas Load Management Plan complaining about the refusal of Peshawar’s administration to cooperate with the gas utility for suspending the supply of natural gas to CNG stations.

On Thursday, the SNGPL announced that CNG stations across the province won’t get gas for a month. It asked the district administration to help it enforce the decision.

A letter written by the energy ministry to the provincial chief secretary said the supply of natural gas to the CNG sector in KP was to be curtailed in the current month as per the gas utility’s Winter Load Management Plan, 2023-24, to ensure supply to other sectors, especially households as the highest priority, in the peak of the winter season.

“The supply to the CNG sector in KP requires to be suspended with immediate effect. However, upon SNGPL’s intimation to suspend supply to CNG sector in KP, the administration of Peshawar is refusing to assist SNGPL and informed that the matter may be taken up through the petroleum division with the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” it read.

Claims Peshawar admin has refused to cooperate with gas utility for suspending supply to CNG stations

The letter added that the suspension of gas supply to the CNG sector in KP was critical to manage the increased demand due to “peak winters” and if that didn’t happen, the SNGPL might face “severe pack depletion and low pressure across the system.”

It warned that such a situation would adversely affect gas supply to the domestic sector during the current cold wave.

The ministry also said gas supply to the power sector would also need to be reduced as the flow of water in rivers was slow due to the prolonged dry weather.

It said in the letter that keeping in view the prevailing cold wave, the cooperation of the provincial government with the SNGPL for the implementation of the Winter Gas Load Management Plan was required.

Meanwhile, the suspension of gas supply to CNG stations across the province troubled people on Friday as most public transport vehicles powered by gas remained off the roads.

Some people pushed such cars to petrol pumps to fuel up.

Public Transport Owners Association provincial president Khan Zaman Afridi expressed concern about the government’s move and said most public transport vehicles didn’t take the road in the provincial capital due to the closure of gas stations.

“Almost 60 per cent of public transport vehicles, mostly plyinglink roads, remained off the roads due to the unavailability of CNG. The gas supply was suspended early on Friday,” he told Dawn.

He claimed that 90 per cent of public transport vehicles were powered by CNG due to the surging petroleum prices.

“Office-bearers of all public transport associations will meet today (Saturday) at the General Bus Stand [in Peshawar] to devise an effective line of action for the acceptance of demands by the government,” he said.

Mr Afridi said most transport owners wanted fares to be increased by 10 per cent due to high petrol rates to stay in business.

He said he had requested other transporters not to increase fares but they called for fare revision from Saturday (Jan 6).

“Owners of taxicabs and auto-rickshaws have already started charging commuters at will. It is the duty of the provincial transport authority to issue a fresh fare list but it is not bothered about our misery, so we are left with no option but to increase fares on our own or keep the vehicles off roads,” he said.

All Pakistan CNG Association provincial chairman Fazal Muqeem Khan said 550 gas stations functioning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would remain closed for one month forcing owners to pay wages to employees without work.

He said the federal government had turned a blind eye to the problems of investors, including CNG station owners.

Mr Khan criticised the politicians of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over their “failure to raise voice for rights of the province” and said KP had sufficient natural gas but that was denied to its people.

Officials of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited told Dawn that CNG stations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won’t get natural gas for a month so that household demand for gas could be met in the chilly cold weather.

They said the decision to restrict the operation of CNG stations in the province would be enforced with the help of district administrations as required by the law.

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioners of Mansehra, Abbottabad, Mardan, Haripur and Swat districts, have imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in their respective areas restricting the operation of the local CNG stations until Jan 31.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2024