The Hindu : Cong. blames Centre for CNG crisis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 25, 2002

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Cong. blames Centre for CNG crisis

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JULY 24. The Delhi Congress today blamed the Central Government for creating an artificial shortage of CNG fuel in the Capital leading to the present crisis which had become a source of trauma for lakhs of motorists and commuters of the city. Seeking immediate augmentation of the CNG supply, the party threatened to take to streets if the situation does not improve during the next few weeks.

A delegation led by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, Subhash Chopra, today met the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Ram Naik, to lodge their strong protest over the continued shortage of CNG fuel and the harassment being caused to lakhs of motorists and commuters.

The delegation, while holding the Centre fully responsible for the fuel crisis in Delhi said they had reasons to suspect that Centre was not taking steps deliberately to resolve the crisis. The increasing long queues of vehicles outside the CNG filling stations across the city was indicative of the callous attitude of the Central Government on dealing with such a serious situation in the country's Capital. It not only sought additional supply of CNG but also asked the Union Minister to issue necessary directions to the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) to get down with the job of setting up more mother stations and filling stations.

The delegation told Mr. Naik that CNG fuel situation had gone from bad to worse during recent months. Despite giving assurances to the Supreme Court and the people of Delhi that things would improve, nothing has happened. The IGL has been giving misleading information on the CNG front which will be brought to the notice of Supreme Court during the next hearing. Mr. Chopra said there were around 61,000 CNG vehicles operating in Delhi presently and the number is expected to go up in the coming months. The DTC is apprehensive of buying 1,000 CNG buses as there is no fuel for the present number of vehicles what to talk about the new ones.The DPCC president said DTC was suffering a loss of around Rs. 50,000 per day due to dead mileage it had to cover to get CNG fuel for its buses. At any given point of time, 20 per cent of the DTC fleet is lined up outside the filling stations to get CNG and the situation is no better for the private bus operators and other motorists.

The party spokesman, Mukesh Sharma, said so severe was the problem that three-wheeler drivers have to stand in queues outside CNG filling stations for more than 24 hours at a stretch and in the process are unable to meet their families for days together.

The repeated assertions by IGL that it would set things right soon have proved to be false. Instead the sufferings of Delhiites have gone up and people were repenting the day they opted for CNG fuel. He also demanded action against IGL authorities for giving false promises on the CNG issue and filling wrong information before the Supreme Court.

Other members of the delegation included the former Outer Delhi MP, Sajjan Kumar, former Union Minister, Jagdish Tytler and former Chandni Chowk MP, J.P.Aggarwal.

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