PESHAWAR: The closure of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in Peshawar and across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was challenged in the Peshawar High Court through a writ petition on Thursday.
The petition has made the President, prime minister, Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and other authorities as respondents.
Filed by Malik Yaseen advocate, the petition argued that the CNG stations in Peshawar and most districts of the province had been shut down without prior notice, causing serious inconvenience to the people.
According to the petition, a majority of vehicles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa run on CNG, yet whenever an energy crisis emerged, the CNG stations were the first to be closed without any advance warning, which the petitioner termed an unlawful action.
The government, it argued, should inform the masses in advance if such closures were necessary.The petition stated that the suspension of CNG supply disrupts public transport, school vans, ambulances and other essential services, paralysing daily life. It prayed the court to declare the closure of CNG stations illegal and unconstitutional and restrain authorities from repeatedly shutting them down.
The petitioner also highlighted that many people depended on CNG-related transport for their livelihood, and sudden closures left low-income earners unemployed, affecting their ability to support their families.
