Reservations have been put forward by the Rawalpindi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) over the notification issued by the Sui Northern Gas for the termination of gas connections and the forced transfer to RLNG for commercial consumers.

The termination of connections will affect more than 3,000 commercial consumers of natural gas, according to the President RCCI Saqib Rafiq. Termination of connections is being done on a very short notice of five days. This should not have been done without first consulting the stakeholders and also with a longer notice period.

“All cafes, bakeries, milk-shops, tea-stalls, canteens, barber shops, laundries, hotels, malls, places of entertainment like cinemas, clubs, theatres, and private offices, corporate firms, owners of tandoors will be affected if SNGPL suspends supply of indigenous gas to them,” he said.

“Economic conditions in the country are already pretty bad. Thousands of households will be affected for worse if this notification is implemented fully. Businesses are already hurting because of high inflation and low buying capacity of consumers. Changes in the distribution of gas during winters should be done after consultations with relevant stakeholders. Unilateral decisions will only hurt the people and the government will lose its already tanking popularity,” he added.

He appealed to the State Minister for Petroleum Musaddiq Malik and Managing Director Sui Northern that the “notification should be withdrawn and old connections should be restored for commercial users.”

As per the notification, SNGPL is now offering RLNG to those commercial consumers only who will sign the RLNG supply contract prior to October 31, 2022. Indigenous gas supply to all commercial consumers will be terminated. Therefore, commercial consumers are directed to sign the contract before October 31, 2022 in order to ensure continuity of gas supply on RLNG tariff.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk