SWABI: The consumers complained here on Sunday that the price of liquefied petroleum gas had been jacked up by Rs120 per kilogramme in Swabi district.

Talking to reporters, they said before Ramazan they were getting LPG at Rs230 per kg, but its price surged to Rs350 per kg since the start of the fasting month.

They said in some remote areas the LPG rate had been jacked up to Rs400 per kg with dealers overcharging consumers at will.

The consumers said price of 10kg cylinder had jumped to Rs3,800 from Rs3,200, and more increase could not be ruled out.

Dealers blame increase on hoarding by dealers

They said retail rate of the fuel had jumped to Rs380 per kg in some regions.

The consumers said LP dealers blamed the rate hike on hoarding of the fuel by big contractors, who intentionally reduced supply to market, creating an environment to sell the product beyond the prices prescribed by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority.

“The LPG is mostly used for preparing Iftar and Sehri,” said Abdul Latif of Yar Hussain village.

When contacted, an LPG trader in the city told Dawn that they were simply passing on the impact of price increase to consumers.

Meanwhile, the price of green chilli jumped to Rs500 per kg in the Swabi city on Sunday against its official rate of Rs350 per kg for good quality and Rs300 for normal one.

The consumers blasted the relevant officials for failing to enforce the official price list in Ramazan.

POWER OUTAGES: Peshawar Electric Supply Company is subjecting consumers to prolonged power loadshedding despite the provincial government’s announcement to ensure smooth supply during Ramazan, especially at Sehr and Iftar.

The consumers said on Sunday the government made an empty pledge of curtailing outage duration during the fasting month.

Just four days before Ramazan, Wapda authorities had struck an agreement with the protesting people that there wouldn’t be loadshedding in the district after March 10.

Mukhtiar Khan, former adviser to chief minister, said there were two ministers and three CM’s aides belonging to Swabi, but they couldn’t use their good offices to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the district.

Ayub Khan of Tordher village said CM’s aide Abdul Karim had promised no loadshedding in Ramazan, but outage duration in his area had increased from eight hours to 12 hours in Ramazan instead.

He demanded of Mr Karim, who also belongs to Tordher village, to play his due role in reducing loadshedding time.

Mohammad Adil of Zaida village said outage duration had reached 12 hours.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2024