THE LPG Distributors Association has warned of the LPG crisis and demanded that banking channels should be asked to quicken payments for imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Its Chairman Irfan Khokhar said, in a statement, that a conspiracy was being hatched to malign the LPG business. He also denounced the campaign against legal LPG imports by terming it smuggling through the Taftan border.
The warning by the Association is timely and should not be taken lightly as the Government is already telling people that there would be a massive gas shortage in the country during approaching winter. As the Government has absolved itself of the responsibility of bridging the gap between supply and demand of gas through increased imports and is merely relying on sensitizing people about the impending shortage, people, especially those living in urban areas are banking on availability of the LPG. However, the Association has warned that if the situation was not given due consideration the price of LPG might shoot to Rs. 400 a kilo. Prices of LPG routinely increase in winter in view of sudden increase in demand but what the Chairman of the Association is visualizing means four hundred per cent increase, which would definitely mean the commodity would be within the reach of the elite and not the common man. It is therefore, time for the Government to talk to the representatives of the importers and distributors of LPG and resolve their genuine grievances on a priority basis. The Government should also take steps to improve supply of gas to domestic consumers as the existing plan to provide gas only during cooking hours in the morning and evening only means unbearable pressure on the system and as a consequence no one would get the gas in the kitchen.
