Fuel shortage

Shortage of petrol all across Pakistan is another example of government's mismanagement. The government has once again shown that it is not even capable of finding solutions to some of the basic problems in Pakistan and also leaving a big question mark over its claims to provide relief to the people. Petrol has goner missing at petrol pumps but does it really affect our bureaucrats and politicians who get their car tanks filled with petrol at the expense of people's tax and their children waste it in just a nick of time. These people have never cared for the ordinary people who wait in a queue just to get a few litres of petrol and are fully drenched with sweat in search of it. The current demand of petrol in Pakistan is about 7000 tons per day and I am sure most of it goes inside the cars of ruling elite who waste it a lot. Our refineries produce about 4000 tons per day while the rest is imported. As of now, our refineries have been closed due to lack of funds for their maintenance. The government seems to be non-serious about it as the issue concerns the middle class and not them. ARL Platformer Unit (Petrol producer) was shut down in emergency due to technical fault but the pity is that no action is being taken to restore fuel supply from it. Hoarded stock of 2000 metric tons was recovered from Customs in Karachi after the government finally realised that it was doing injustice to the people. Now the government plans to import 190,000 tons of petrol after three weeks. I thank the concerned authorities that at least they have woken up. HAIDER ALI, Lahore, June 16.

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