Rao Dilshad Hussain

We are living in hard times. One crisis leads to another. Punjab and some cities of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa faced the worst shortage of petrol immediately after Eid holidays. Whether the shortage was real or fabricated it would be established later. The way the crisis was handled has left people shocked.

Most of the filling stations had closed shop while a few operated at very low key level spreading panic among the people. After two days the shortage was not just a pinch for the consumer. It had become a crisis. Long queues of motorists could be seen at the few operating filling stations. Thankfully the CNG supply at the filling stations remained steady.

After five days the Punjab government wrote a letter to the prime minister demanding his immediate intervention for handling the crisis. On prime minister’s directive oil companies have increased the supply of petrol. Now the crisis is almost over.

How was the crisis created? When probed a number of factors came into account. The rich oil men are not alone to blame. Some new players including prominent politicians have come into the field. They devised this plan to make some quick bucks.

“I have been running this filling station for many years. After demolishing cinema I started this business. I invested more than four million rupees in this business. For the last two months we couldn’t sell petrol. It was not due to shortage but due to the monopoly of some oil companies.

“Oil companies always facilitate the influential people. When we entered this business Total Company promised to provide so many opportunities but right now whenever we contact for taking petroleum products they refused and said fuel is not available. It was the biggest gaffe of my life to construct this filling station and because non-availability of the petroleum products we have to short listing the employees that were more than fifty and now we have just five.” Sh Hafeez Ullah veteran businessman told the situation while talking to Sunday plus.

“When it was asked about the shortage of petroleum products, the representatives of the companies replied that we have hidden instructions that some of the oil companies are going to wind up their business rapidly. Caltex was running almost 605 filling stations but has been wrapped to almost 250. It has not constructed any new stations either. British petroleum is also going to shut down its business and preferring to invest money in India and other Asian countries. Government should look into this matter seriously and should take constructive measures. Sadly OGDC is not ready to play its role yet. It should be an autonomous body and must take strict actions against the monopolisation of the oil marketing companies, but it does nothing,” he was of the view.

Personal monopoly of the local fuel dealers is also one of the reasons behind the recent fabricated shortage of petroleum because dealers demanded 5 percent commission while the government is only giving just 2.5 percent commission. So if the government wants to provide consistent supply to the people, it should listen to the dealers and their demands should be considered and addressed.

“The monopolisation has risen rapidly. The oil companies are playing the role of cartels. Since 2008 with arrival of the democratic government Gas load shedding has become rampant because more than 75 percent of the vehicles were being run by CNG and oil-marketing companies faced low sales regarding petrol and diesel. So government should keep strict check on all these oil companies and abandon their discriminatory policy. The cooperation between the federal and Punjab government should be enhanced.” Sh hafeez was of the view.

Currently the solvent oil is being mixed with chemical and is sold out in the streets of the city illegally. It is harmful for the engines. The trade of solvent oil is occurring and a number of minor factories have been set up in Lahore. The manufacturing cost of the solvent oil is Rs. 29 while it is being sold at Rs. 130. The need of the hour is to stop them instantaneously.

“We have sold petroleum products even during war with India. Interestingly now floods have ravaged the country and there is an acute fuel shortage. Talking to the scribe, PSO Manager M. Younus said that because of the floods, containers couldn’t reach their destinations on time.

“I think people had to suffer because of the mismanagement of PSO. When flood came we were easily getting petroleum products and scarcity did not exist at that time. After facing shortage at a mass level, a question arises about why PSO didn’t take any precautionary measures to tackle scarcity.

In fact PSO could not manage the situation after floods. Even when the remaining refineries were functioning properly, PSO decided to purchase clean fuel directly. But at the international market, PSO it didn’t have enough money to open the LC accounts because WAPDA, PIA, Railway and many other government departments have to reimburse more than 10 billions to PSO.

Hafeez further informed, “Previously when we got petroleum products, we had to clear the payments within 48 hours but now we have to submit pay order drafts and still are unable to get fuel the same day. PSO provides fuel after checking their availability. Last time we were able to get fuel before Eid and even ten days after Eid we still have not received the fuel. PSO claims that it does not have enough money to buy fuel. Then where is the capital going which PSO has taken in terms of advance payment from all its outlets? Government should ask the PSO’s management about these finances.”

Sadly people are facing quite an ordeal these days due to scarcity of fuel. Still PSO has not stopped sending more than hundred of fuel tankers to Afghanistan from Sheikhupura’s oil depot at a much cheaper rate while in Pakistan people are ready to pay double the rates. This is unfortunate thing that nobody can stop this practice abruptly. “It is true PSO was unable to manage during holidays and it is involved in creating fuel scarcity.” Younus explained the situation.

Talking about the crisis to Sunday plus PSO’s Regional Sales Officer Muhammad Khalid said that after closing the PARCO oil refinery, which is one of the biggest refineries, an acute fuel shortage became rampant. “The other reason were the drives of the tankers could not come back timely after their Eid holidays. All the petroleum products were available but could not be distributed during holidays. So lack of manpower became a major hurdle in delivering fuels to the outlets. Rest of the things and talks were nothing more than that of speculations,” Khalid justified.

It a sheer dismay that when people are facing mammoth crisis of flood that has escalated food crisis, one more crisis of fuel has hit the pavilion. Petroleum products are available at a sky-high price and there seems no sign of relief from the government whatsoever.