Thousands of vehicles, motorbikes, and rickshaws lined up at petrol pumps across the country yesterday due to a shortage of petroleum products and rumours of another fuel hike, causing trouble in traffic flow in several areas.
How did the rumours spread?
Yesterday, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that petrol would become more expensive for those who have their own ships. This was followed by rumors circulating in the Gazette that a crowd of people turned to petrol pumps.
Due to this misunderstanding, petrol pumps in Pakistan’s economic hub Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Sukkur, Hyderabad, and all other major cities were completely filled, due to long queues of vehicles in many cities.
Taking advantage of the rumors, various oil companies also cut off fuel supply.
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Federal Minister for Information Maryam Aurangzeb issued a statement to refute the rumours that the government is not going to increase the fuel price, such speculations are based on lies. The public and media are urged not to listen to rumors. There is no shortage of petroleum products in the country.
Analysts say there has been an uproar at petrol pumps across the country, especially in Karachi, as the nation may be pumping petrol at the moment. It happened and turned to the pumps to get petrol. But no one bothered to know the truth.
Analysts say that following the rumours, the people thought that petrol would not be available from tomorrow and if it is available, it will be expensive, and the whole nation got up and reached the pumps in their own vehicles.
They say that the tank capacity of a vehicle is 27 to 47 liters. Even if the owner of the car takes 27 or 47 liters of petrol, how many days will it last, at least for the rest of his life?
Analysts further said that in order to convince the nation, OGRA had to issue a formal statement that the prices of petroleum products were not increasing in the country and there was no shortage of fuel in the country. They have been asked to keep plenty of oil at petrol pumps. But at night it seemed that this nation has become psychic and is only concerned with refueling.
However, analysts also say that this nation has really become psychological and our politicians have a big hand in making it psychological, whose statement today does not correspond to yesterday’s statement, Miftah Ismail Sahib said on May 27.
He had announced an increase of Rs 30 per liter in the price of petrol and also hinted that the prices of petroleum products would not be increased any time soon, but within a week, ie on June 2, petrol will be available to the public again. The bomb was dropped. In such a situation, the people will not fall prey to rumors, so what will they do?