Gas crisis has been looming large in the gas producing province as the Sindh authorities announced closure of CNG stations for an indefinite period from tomorrow (June 22). After 12am, the CNG stations will be shut down till further orders, according to a notification. 

Sameer Najmal Hussain, a CNG body's provincial head, said commuters and owners of CNG station across the province have been landed in trouble following the order. According to SSGC, the decision has been taken following the orders of the federal authorities. He said Kepco power that has been banned by the federal authorities has been supplied with the gas and felt strong concerns for the people associated with the business of CNG station and commuters.

He said they were promised that the CNG stations would not be experience gas loadshedding a year ago but to no avail.  He called upon authorities concerned to put an end to such a deprivation. Sameer expressed his surprise over the SSGC's decision saying the CNG sector took just 32 MMCFD while the total network has 1250MMCFD. 

The move comes a day after Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui reported to have said that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has been standing firm to protect the constitutional right of the the province and the centre wanted Sindh CM to act like his Punjab and KP counterparts Usman Buzdar and Mehmood Khan respectively.

The federal government opted for blame-game whenever it failed to answer the question in democratic terms, Murtaza maintained. Last month, the Sindh government sent a reference to the parliament making a request for deliberating upon the results of the sixth census after the Council of Common Interest (CCI) failed to address its concerns. Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah requested the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani under Article 154(7) of the Constitution to summon a joint session of parliament to take up the matter.