Pakistan: LPG price hiked by Rs 2 per kg

According to a notification issued by Ogra on Tuesday, owing to Rs2,529 increase (per tonne), the domestic cylinder rate has been increased by Rs35 and that of commercial cylinder by Rs134. The new rates of LPG with increased prices will be Rs204 (previously Rs202 per kg), Rs2,409 per domestic cylinder (previously Rs2,374) and Rs9,269 (Rs9,135 earlier) for commercial cylinders, reports Dawn News.

Talking to Dawn, LPG Dealers Association chairman Irfan Khokhar said that since the country has already been facing a severe natural gas supply crisis, the ‘flawed’ policies and high number of taxes have put a negative impact on the LPG industry despite the fact that the LPG distributors are paying taxes worth over Rs6 billion per annum.

“In this era of inflation and natural gas shortfall, we request the government to eliminate all unnecessary taxes on LPG in a bid to provide cheap and abundant liquefied gas to the poor,” he sought.

He said a comprehensive LPG policy should also be made to meet the shortfall of natural gas.

“The closure of JJVL Jamshoro plant has caused a loss of billions of rupees in addition to hike in LPG prices, forcing the people to buy expensive gas,” he added.

Meanwhile, people criticised the government over the price rise and urged it to take measures that will give relief to the public.

“Where to go, as prices of everything continue rising. On the other hand, our income resources are going down, making us difficult to meet the rising expenses,” a rickshaw driver told Dawn.

“It seems that this country is no more for the poor people,” he said.