MANSEHRA: All Pakistan Compressed Natural Gas Association’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter on Sunday suspended gas supply across the province during the daytime under the winter load management plan after talks with Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Company officials.

“We have shut down CNG stations in Hazara and rest of the province following successful talks with SNGPL officials and representatives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government,” Khalid Latif, the association’s Hazara division president, told reporters.

He said CNG stations across the Hazara division and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would remain closed until Monday and resume operations on Tuesday.

“The CNG stations will now operate from 5pm to 8am,” Mr Latif added.

Association’s leader says decision taken after talks with govt officials

He explained that SNGPL’s senior general manager Taj Wali, and Hazara division commissioner Zaheerul Islam had requested their association to suspend supply to vehicles.

Mr Latif said that after the meeting, the association convened meetings of its four divisions – Peshawar, Mardan, Karak and Abbottabad – and decided to close CNG stations across the province.

“We held talks with them and agreed to close CNG stations for two days, Sunday and Monday,” he stated.

He stressed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was self-sufficient in natural gas production, and under Article 158 of the Constitution, the government was obligated to meet the province’s requirements first before distributing the surplus to other parts of the country.

“We (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) produce 421 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), while our total consumption is 220 mmscfd, with the remainder going to Punjab,” Mr Latif said.

He also mentioned that the Peshawar High Court had already issued a status quo, ordering the federal government not to suspend gas supply to CNG stations across the province until the next order.

“If CNG stations are closed for months or weeks, it might shatter this industry as it has been in Punjab,” Mr Latif warned.

OFFICIALS BOOKED FOR GRAFT: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Anti-Corruption Establishment has booked the deputy director of Afghan Refugees, Peshawar and three other officials over large-scale financial corruption and embezzlement in development schemes executed by the Oghi tehsil municipal administration here.

“We have arrested one of the four accused, who withdrew millions of funds without executing the development schemes on the ground in Bugermung area of the district,” Abid Khan, ACE’s circle in-charge, told reporters here on Sunday.

He said the anti-corruption body initiated an inquiry into the embezzlement and misappropriations in 278 development schemes executed by TMA Oghi during the financial year 2017-18.

“Our technical team discovered that eight out of 11 development schemes for water supply and street pavements in Bugermung area were not executed, yet funds were withdrawn,” Mr Khan said.

He further said large-scale embezzlement and misappropriation were also found during physical inspections and visits of the 278 development schemes executed in different parts of Oghi.

The ACE circle in-charge said following the discovery of these large-scale financial irregularities the anti-corruption watchdog lodged an FIR against Aftabul Islam Shah, the then tehsil municipal officer and now the deputy director of Afghan Refugees, Peshawar, tehsil officers infrastructure Gohar Ishaq and Assad Jamal, and contractor Mohammad Rafique.

“We have arrested Assad Jamal while the remaining three officials nominated in the FIR have secured pre-arrest bail,” Mr Khan said.

CHICKEN PRICE JUMPS: The price of chicken surged to Rs495 per kilogramme here on Sunday.

The prices of poultry products have been consistently increasing over the past few weeks and surged to a record high of Rs495 per kg in the city and its suburbs.

The chicken was sold at Rs510 per kg in Shinkiari, Oghi, Balakot, and other parts of the district, prompting complaints from residents, who urged the government to regulate poultry prices.

Mohammad Azam, a chicken seller, expressed surprise at the surge, saying he couldn’t have expected poultry prices to rise to such high levels after remaining constant at around Rs300 per kilogramme for past few months.

“We have experienced a significant decline in daily sales as people cannot afford to buy chicken at such high price, which is a record in recent years,” he added.

A buyer urged the government to intervene to control poultry prices as wholesalers were raising prices without considering the inflationary impact on consumers’ purchasing power.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2025