CNG crisis may keep school vans off the roads
Drivers urge people to make alternative arrangements
LUCKNOW: The school van of your ward may not turn up on Thursday as the ongoing CNG crisis has compelled many drivers to keep their vehicles off the roads.
The situation may continue if the green fuel problem persists, say drivers.
They have communicated the ‘CNG problem’ to parents and urged them to make alternative arrangements for the days they don’t turn up.
The CNG problem started from June-end after the STF raided some petrol pumps with CNG nozzles and caught them using electronic chips to dispense lesser petrol and gas to consumers. CNG dispensers at two petrol pumps were seized and this created an ‘artificial crisis’ of CNG in the city, especially in Trans-Gomti area.
As things stand today, CNG van and bus drivers have to toil hard to get fuel. Sometimes, they have heated exchange of words with the petrol pump staff due to the crisis. On Monday, there was an incident of violence between staff and school van drivers at a CNG station in Sector 6 Vrindavan.
Satnam Singh, a school van driver, said: “It is not the first time school van drivers are facing problems due to shortage of CNG supply. We can understand the problem, but authorities concerned must also understand our problem as we have to spend five long hours just to fetch CNG for our vehicles. We also have a family life.”
According to the RTO, currently there are 29,000 CNG vehicles in the city. But sources say 1,000 more may be plying on the roads without proper papers.
Against the daily requirement of around 1.5 lakh kg fuel, Green Gas Ltd (GGL) is supplying around 1 lakh kg of gas daily.
Officials of the oil company say the real problem is not of short supply, but the problem of lesser number of dispensers, which would be taken care of within the next three months when CNG facility would be provided in six more petrol pumps.
CNG VAN AND BUS DRIVERS HAVE TO TOIL HARD TO GET FUEL. SOMETIMES, THEY HAVE HEATED EXCHANGE OF WORDS WITH THE PETROL PUMP STAFF