New Government Directives Issued Regarding Petrol Subsidy Scheme

Islamabad (Daily Qudrat): New government directives have been issued regarding the petrol subsidy scheme. Federal Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja has said that motorcyclists will receive a weekly subsidy token of 5 litres, while vehicle owners will receive a token of 10 litres after every 10 days.

Federal Ministers Ataullah Tarar, Shaza Fatima, and Ali Pervaiz Malik held a joint press conference, in which Federal Minister for IT Shaza Fatima gave a detailed briefing on the procedure and features of the Prime Minister’s Fuel Relief Scheme.

Shaza Fatima Khawaja said that motorcyclists will receive a weekly subsidy token of 5 litres, while vehicle owners will receive a token of 10 litres after every 10 days. Old vehicles and motorcycles will also be eligible for the subsidy. It is also not necessary for the registration to be in one’s own name. Motorcyclists will be able to obtain petrol subsidy once a week, and vehicle owners once every 10 days.

There will be a token of 10 litres for a vehicle and 5 litres for a motorcycle.

For the petrol subsidy, motorcycles 15 years old and vehicles 20 years old will also be eligible for this programme.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association, expressing serious reservations and concern over the scheme, has made clear that it is extremely essential to take petroleum dealers across the country into confidence before its implementation. In a press release issued by the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association, administrative shortcomings in the strategy for implementing the fuel relief scheme were pointed out. The association said that at thousands of petrol pumps across the country, there is a rush of millions of motorcycles daily; in such a situation, checking the identity documents, registration, or invoice of every motorcyclist is a practically extremely difficult and impossible task for pump staff.

The dealers have said that without any clear and automated digital procedure, the process of checking invoices at pumps will create a risk of bitter exchanges between the public and pump staff, long queues, and severe unpleasantness. Keeping in view the gravity of the situation, the PPDA has summoned an emergency high-level meeting of petroleum dealers across the country this evening, in which the technical aspects, administrative procedure, and possible challenges of the fuel relief scheme will be discussed in detail.