No one is unaware of
the current issues going on in Pakistan these days. Every second day, the
people of Pakistan have to worry for another problem. The tensions, stress,
anxieties, frustrations etc. have made a common man living in Pakistan senseless.
Now-a-days petrol is not available in the province of Punjab. And no one in the
government is taking the responsibility to accept their fault. Because they
really don’t care, they know that they will get petrol, for all of their cars
in their protocol in any case. One, who will not be able to get it, is only a
person living in Pakistan. He is the one who is going to suffer, not the
government officials.
It has been about 10
days now that the citizens of Punjab, mostly, are not getting fuel for their
automobiles and motorbikes. They are not able to go to their jobs and work,
send their children to schools, colleges and universities, fulfill their responsibilities
for a household. And if one thinks of any sort of public transport then, it’s
unavailable as well. While, if they are, then the rates are too high that a
simple worker can’t afford them. The taxi, rikshaw drivers have increased the
rates to almost a double, and if someone is willing to pay, but knows that they
are asking for such high rates, complains, they say, you know there is so much
problem of fuel these days, the complainer has nothing to say, as he, himself
is a victim.
The officials of
Pakistan State Oil say that not a single oil delivery has arrived in the
country ports for the previous two weeks. On the other hand, every fortnight, a
number of almost 6 to 8 ships with fuel of 65,000 tons arrive at the country
ports. A PSO officer reported that, “the company has exhausted all its
overdraft facilities in the past few weeks. All its LCs (letters of credit)
lines have been choked as its total receivables now run over Rs. 215 billion. The
power sector owed Rs. 190 billion and PIA Rs. 12.5 billion.”
Last Thursday,
government paid Rs. 17 billion but it did not solve the problem. The amount
went to the overdue drafts and so fresh imports of oil could not be made. No
one is now supporting PSO with their product and no trusts are being laid on
them by the exporters or the banks.
It is not just petrol
that has formed lines of vehicles on the petrol pumps but also the CNG
stations.
When the petrol shortage reached its limits, government announced
that CNG will now be available for the cars. But still all in vain. A student
reported, “I am unable to go to my university due to petrol unavailability for
three days.” A father said, “I have to drop my children to school before I go
to work, but now I have to wait for two to three hours in a queue to get petrol
first a night before and then I am able to send them to school and go to my
work, the next day.”
The problem here is that
the citizens of this country are fed up. The so called slogans of each party,
like “Roti, kapra aur makaan”, “Roshan Pakistan” and “Naya Pakistan” have given
nothing but pain and suffering to the citizens. It’s now the need of hour to move
towards the practical steps instead of satisfying the citizens with such lame
slogans. The government has to take serious steps towards this issue and
resolve it now and then. The people now don’t have the capacity to wander here
and there for petrol just like electricity, Sui gas, water, shelter, food etc.
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