Protest held against hike in gas tariff in Pakistan

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Thousands of workers working in hotels, restaurants, tandoors, and the general public will besiege the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) office against a 137 per cent increase in tariff of natural gas. The protesters have decided to besiege OGRA, Islamabad office .

The protesters have warned police and other law enforcement agencies not to interfere otherwise they will face the music.

Last time, police not only baton-charged the protesters but registered cases against them for recording their protest against the hike in gas and electricity tariffs. In reality, the government has increased gas tariffs by over 200 per cent in phases because domestic users paying exorbitant gas bills. The domestic and commercial users were paying big amounts of bills as compared to past bills.

According to the set plan, the hotels, restaurant, tandoor owners, and the general public will start their protest rally from Murree Road Chandni Chowk to OGRA Headquarters, Islamabad office. The protesters told ‘The News’ that the caretaker government has added fuel to the fire by increasing gas tariffs with each passing day. The caretaker government was obeying the orders of the International Monitory Fund (IMF). The IMF was continuously killing the people of Pakistan through ever-increasing inflation and exorbitant utility bills but our government is not doing anything.

The protesters said that they will also besiege all offices of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) here in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The caretaker government was not feeling any kind of shame therefore we with full backing of the general public have decided to come on the roads, the protesters said. The protesters said that the caretaker government came here to conduct elections but unfortunately, they were increasing the prices of gas and electricity with each passing day. This will create an unrest situation among the public, the protesters warned.

The protesters demanded that the government take back the decision to increase rates of gas immediately otherwise they will lock down all cities in the coming days. The protesters raised slogans against the government for continuously increasing gas and electricity rates. The protesters demanded the provision of full pressure of natural gas at cheaper rates. The protesters said that they have filed several complaints in SNGPL offices to provide them full pressure of gas but in vain. The protesters demanded that the federal government take immediate notice of the situation.

After the electricity and water crises in the city, the shortage of gas has also emerged as one of the most concerning issues, as many areas of the city have been receiving no supply of gas for months, the angry protesters said. The general public of Rawalpindi and Islamabad said that the caretaker government was playing on our nerves. We are paying big amounts of bills without natural gas in stoves but nobody is taking any kind of action against it. Why government was not thinking that innocent people facing famine-like situations for over 5 years, and why bosses were not feeling any kind of shame in their policies and decisions, people strongly protested. (TIN)