(Image credit: Dawn) “The ministers and (treasury) MPAs should also reach the assembly the same way on donkey carts,” PTI MPA Sajjad Ali was seen saying in a video while holding a placard describing the fuel price hike as a “petrol bomb dropped on the people”.
The protest was held after petrol prices rose to Rs 390.79 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) to Rs 424.92 per litre following the latest adjustment on Thursday, according to Dawn news. These include ordering markets to close by 9pm and cutting fuel allocations for official vehicles by 50% for three months. Because of rising fuel costs, ali said the protest was intended to highlight the difficulties faced by ordinary people.
The government has meanwhile introduced a relief scheme targeting users of motorcycles, rickshaws, Qingqis and other two- and three-wheelers, as well as small cars with engines up to 800cc.
“Petrol has become so expensive that we cannot even come to the assembly in our vehicles,” he said, adding that people were bearing the brunt of the government’s policies. The pumps said they lacked the required system to sell petrol at Rs100 per litre less. PTI MPA Sajjad Ali and other lawmakers rode donkey carts from areas near the assembly to its main gate, carrying placards and raising slogans against the federal government. The current petrol and diesel prices include government taxes and duties of Rs114 per litre on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel. The government now adjusts fuel prices daily. The Pakistan bar council also criticised the repeated fuel price increases.
A joint meeting of its Executive Committee and Rules Committee on Thursday called the hikes unprecedented and urged the government to take steps to control prices and provide relief to citizens. However, the scheme faced problems on its first day of nationwide rollout on Thursday, with several petrol pumps refusing to accept the digital app introduced for the subsidy. The federal government also brought back austerity measures on Thursday.