The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has suspended gas supply to the industrial sector and CNG stations in the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for an indefinite period following an attack on a gas pipeline in Sui on Saturday, SNGPL General Manager Abdur Rasheed Arshad told The Express Tribune.
The decision was taken after a 30-inches diameter pipeline was blown up by militants near Sui, Balochistan, on Saturday.
Militants had placed explosives along the pipeline at several points. Rangers and law enforcement personnel have been deployed at the site to allow engineering teams to estimate the extent of damage. The engineers will submit a report in two days, Arshad said.
“We have accorded priority to the domestic sector at the moment and will not inconvenience households,” he said.
All Punjab CNG Association Chairman Fayyaz Gillani said the suspension of gas could lead to massive unemployment. He said around two million daily wage workers in the two provinces could be affected by the gas suspension.
Supply to CNG stations will be cut off from Sunday (today).
As many as 215 CNG stations will be shut down in Multan. Over 1,200 stations will face closure in the two provinces, all told.
This is the third major suspension of gas supply to the industrial sector and CNG stations in the last two months due to militant attacks on gas pipelines, Gillani said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2013.