In the latest weekly holiday, CNG stations in the twin cities closed on Friday morning and were to reopen on the morning of Sunday, leaving people wait for hours to board the bus or wagon to their destination during these shutdowns.
"Whenever the vehicle turns up, it is almost full and then the only way to get home is either to stand crouched inside the wagon or bus or to wait till the next public-transport vehicle with vacant seats approaches the bus-stop", said a frustrated commuter Inayet Elahi.
Another traveller Khadim Hussain said seats are given only to those passengers who pay double fare while the rest of the people are seen running behind busses and wagons. The local authorities do not seem to have any check on the transporters as they increase the fare when fuel prices rise, but don't decrease the fare whenever there is a decline.
Mehreen Raza, a lady passenger, told that the attitude of the van conductors was always harsh. She pointed out that the most serious problem was that there was hardly any departure-arrival schedule for public transport. "As compared to rest of the country, Rawalpindi division has more wagons with petrol engines converted to CNG, as the alternative fuel is available all over the division," said a wagon driver.
He said these shutdowns are seriously disturbing their business, as operating a wagon on petrol was not a viable proposition any more. Private car-owners have also been hit hard due to the weekly shutdown of CNG stations. "We wander here and there in search of gas, only to find all pumps closed down during the weekly holiday," Jamal Khan, a resident of Rawalpindi, said.
"Fuel stations close down their CNG pumps twice a week, adding to misery of common man," Qadir Ali, a motorist, said. Some CNG stations erected tents around their boundaries and displayed black banners inscribed with slogans against mandatory shutdown. At some places, filling station owners deputed their employees to inform people about the shutdown and advise them to use petrol instead of gas for a day.
Most of the Suzuki pickups and taxi drivers increased their fares on the ground that there was a difference of almost 50 per cent in the fuel efficiency of CNG and petrol. Commuters demanded of the concerned authorities to take strict action against public vehicles charging inflated fare.