Peshawar’s district administration has sealed 13 petrol pumps in various districts and has arrested their managers for hoarding petrol and discontinuing its supply to local motorists despite its ample availability.
The action was taken after the public lodged several complaints on Monday night, according to a spokesman for the district administration. He said that petrol supplies were halted after rumors of a probable Rs. 10 per liter hike in the price of the fuel. However, the federal government did not increase the prices of oil in the last fortnight that ended on 31 January.
President of the Sarhad Petroleum and Cartage Dealers Association in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Abdul Majid Khan, affirmed that certain dealers on University Road had stockpiled the supplies.
“Our association will not support such people. Those violating the law should face legal action,” he said.
Khan stated that the dealers who had previously gotten bank drafts for purchasing fuel should submit the required documentation proof to the administration to have their filling stations unsealed. He added that traders should refrain from hoarding petrol and should earn profits through legal means.
To overcome this hoarding issue, the government should decrease the prices by rs 15/litre and retain it for three months to teach them all a lesson.