ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A policy is being finalized to regulate Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices and curb monopoly of the ‘mafia’ multiplying miseries of the consumers especially during winter.
The mafia creates artificial shortage to mint money by increasing prices of the commodity at its own, which prompted the authorities concerned to control the profiteers and faciliate the end-users through appropriate regulations.
“Hopefully, the LPG prices will be regulated in the coming two months as the proposed LPG regulation policy is in its final phase after the nod of Council of Common Interests (CCI),” official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told the state-run news agency.
Chairman LPG Distributors Association (LPGDA) Irfan Khokhar thanked the government for making sincere efforts to get rid of the ‘mafia’ looting consumers in the name of gas shortage and increasing its price on their own.
Talking to news agency, he appreciated the federal government for formulating the LPG regulation policy and getting it passed through CCI taking all stakeholders on board, saying “My gratitude is to Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for getting the policy approved.”
After the policy, he said, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) would start the process to regulate the LPG prices.
“Consumers will get their LPG cylinders refilled less than Rs 900 each throughout the year across the country,” he said.
Presently, he said, around 104 licence-holder LPG marketing companies were operating across the country and total sale of the commodity was approximately 3,000 metric ton per day across the country.
With effective implementation of the regulation policy, Khokhar said, there would be no monopoly of the marketing companies and consumers would get LPG on prescribed rates.
He said the LPG regulation policy was being formulated after 15 years and it would ensure a level-playing field to marketing companies with reasonable profit margin.
