Poor hit hard by inflated utility bills

Islamabad: The traders’ associations and general public of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have decided to initiate a large scale protest demonstrations against soaring prices of natural gas, electricity and POL.

The so-called federal cabinet has once again increased gas prices for residential users up to 67 per cent and for fertilizer plants by 700 per cent to recover additional Rs242 billion from all the consumers.

“How a common man will survive in this country with this inflated ratio,” people belonged to all walks of life told ‘The News’ here on Friday. Besides this the government increased the prices of petroleum products by up to Rs8.37 per liter. The Finance Division notified that the price of MS (petrol) had been increased by Rs2.73 per litre, from Rs272.89 to Rs275.62. Similarly, the price of high speed diesel (HSD) was increased by Rs8.37 per litre, from Rs278.96 per liter to Rs287.33.

Muhammad Naveed a common citizen said that people were leading a difficult life for over five years. In 2018, a 20-kilogram bag of ‘Atta’ was easily available at Rs790 but now in 2024 we are buying it at Rs3200. We were easily purchasing 1-kilogram sugar at Rs53 but now it is selling at Rs145, ghee was selling at Rs170 per kilogram but now in 2024 we are buying it at Rs530, he bemoaned.

Muhammad Akram another citizen said that already we were paying inflated electricity and gas bills and buying petrol at skyrocketing prices. The residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have appealed all political parties to come forward to resolve all public related issues. Be united to run this country on a right track otherwise public will never forgive political parties in coming days, people warned.