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All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA) initiated a strike which entered its third day today, causing the shortage of fuel in Karachi, Islamabad and now Lahore. As reported by Samaa TV, filling stations in different parts of Pakistan were closed since the first day of the strike.
The shortage was bound to happen as the indefinite strike has halted around 23,000 oil tankers in the country. The strike started with the regulations passed by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) which emerged due to the issues such as fines by the motorway police, transportation fare, and regulations regarding the fitness and conditions of the vehicles.
The APOTOA has stated that regulations cannot be implemented on such short notice and due to not being able to come to the same page, the differences have caused a strike.
“It is not possible to implement the new laws of OGRA immediately. We are following the laws of OGRA for the past 10 years.” – said the members of the association.
The entire purpose of these regulations was to create better conditions for the oil tankers and the users, keeping the Ahmedpur Sharqia incident in mind, which initially arose the need of making such decisions by the OGRA. The OGRA has stated that the fitness of the vehicles is kept in perspective, given how 200 people lost their lives in the incident.
Tourists in Gilgit-Baltistan and surrounding areas reported stranded owing to the fuel shortage as well as the halt in public transport vehicles, locals said. The strike has only left a handful of fueling stations with fuel, that too with long lines of queues with the public waiting for hours to fill their tanks.
Such a fail govt
Oil tanker transport on strike
Train driver's on strike
Bomb blast in Lhr
16hours load shedding
But,govt?saving corruption— Zartaj Gul wazir (@zartajgulwazir) July 25, 2017
While the locals were facing a lot of difficulties, reports have stated that the concerned parties have agreed on terms and called off the strike.
JUST IN: Oil Tankers Association calls off strike
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) July 26, 2017
Oil Tankers Association agrees to end strike, oil supply begins pic.twitter.com/jdpZjb21Ue
— JAAG TV (@JaagAlerts) July 26, 2017
After almost 3 days of putting the locals in this situation, oil supply has now started again.
