LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday cancelled all his official engagements scheduled for tomorrow and is expected to spend the day chairing meetings on the fuel crisis.

In a statement released today by PM House, the premier, who has taken serious notice of the fuel shortage, is expected to take important decisions in the meetings. He is also expected to focus on trying to bridge the supply-demand gap.

According to the statement, the prime minister unequivocally said that the public should not suffer and that every measure would be taken to provide relief on an immediate basis.

Six days into a debilitating fuel shortage that has immobilised parts of Punjab, the PM earlier today ordered an inquiry into the crisis and said that officials responsible will be taken to task.

Abbas Haider of DawnNews reports that the premier has ordered an inquiry that will probe the role of the Ministry of Petroleum, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Pakistan State Oil (PSO) as well as other private petroleum companies in the acute fuel shortage in the populous province.

Frustrated citizens in Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Sialkot and Multan spent Sunday queuing up at the handful of petrol pumps open in the respective cities, with some saying they had been there overnight without any respite.

“We have been here from 2:30AM last night and still do not have it by Sunday afternoon,” one irked citizen in Lahore said.

“The rate is the same and they are not taking more money than expected but it is taking up to three hours to get petrol,” said another.

“Mian sahab should deliver on the promises made to us.”

In Multan, angry residents perturbed by the government’s incompetence to resolve the crisis protested at Kalma Chowk, shouting anti-government slogans and demanding the resignation of Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Typically a day of leisure, Sunday was spent by residents of Lahore and Faisalabad holding Gerry cans for up to six hours in a queue for petrol.

The shortage of fuel has affected emergency healthcare services and public transporters as ambulances and buses are idle due to a lack of fuel.

Who is to blame?

At many pumps, tempers spilled over as worn out and angry citizens scuffled with petrol stations owner as their hours long wait saw no relief.

Reporters said in some cases in Faisalabad, people lined up only to be told that there was no petrol when their turn for filling came.

Economist Shahid Hassan Siddiqui told DawnNews rubbished the petroleum minister’s statement in which he claimed that petrol is short due to skyrocketing demands owing to a price fall.

“The secretary of finance has said it is related to the unaddressed issue of circular debt. The crisi is not a simple issue, it is a result of poor governance, incompetence and corruption involving the Ministry of Finance, OGRA, PSO — the oil mafia.”

He added that there must be a high-level investigation into the matter to expose who benefited from the scandal. “Firing four officials as a scapegoat is not enough. If it’s an issue of circular debt, then it is the responsibility of the finance minister. If PSO doesn’t have money, then it is the fault of the ministry.”

“What is OGRA’s involvement in this? It must all be determined.”

Nawaz Sharif a day earlier suspended four officials concerned after arriving from Saudi Arabia and reportedly called a meeting at the airport to improve the situation

Electricity generation takes a hit

The current oil crisis has already brought down electricity generation by over 2,000MW, raising the deficit to 7,000MW and cutting supplies to half of the total demand of over 14,000MW.

More power plants are likely to suspend working in a few days because they are running out of furnace oil, the power sector’s managers warned on Saturday.

To save domestic consumers, who are already facing around 12- hour outages, from further suffering, the managers have increased loadshedding for the industry from four to 10 hours.

The government has also asked public sector companies to cut their generation to half because of paucity of fuel.

Editorial: Out of fuel

Faced with a crisis in fuel supply, the government decided last night to shoot the messenger and suspend four officials from the bureaucracy, leaving ministers untouched.

The minister for petroleum escaped accountability after telling the Senate and later the media that the shortages are the result of a spike in demand because of the downward revision in prices, as well as a partial shutdown at Parco, the country’s largest refinery.

Ogra, the regulator for the oil and gas sector, placed the emphasis elsewhere, saying that the crisis is due in part to the rise in demand, and also to the unwillingness of oil marketing companies to maintain stocks to help tide over temporary difficulties.

Meanwhile, the finance secretary told the Senate that the circular debt was the main reason, because of which PSO could not arrange the funds to pay its creditors and thus found itself unplugged from its lines of credit.

This circus must end. In large part, the crisis is also the result of the heavy centralisation of all decision-making in the hands of a very small number of individuals, which is the hallmark of this government’s style.

Common sense says all these factors must have played a role, but the evidence says it was mismanagement of the circular debt, which caused a severe crisis of liquidity in the country’s largest oil importing company — PSO — which was the primary cause.

Today government ministers and functionaries are searching for all sorts of excuses that absolve the government of responsibility in the creation of this mess, while heads roll in the wrong quarters, and different departments give us different ideas of how long it will take for the situation to normalise.

They have offered excuses before the Senate, on media talk shows and at press conferences that say everything, other than stating the plain fact that we are in this mess because they have failed to manage the circular debt, in cause and consequence.

This circus must end. In large part, the crisis is also the result of the heavy centralisation of all decision-making in the hands of a very small number of individuals, which is the hallmark of this government’s style.