Srinagar, Sep 27: Around 80,000 car owners in Kashmir whose vehicles run on LPG are facing tough time in absence of any refuel facilities. While the state government has registered around 80,000 LPG vehicles in Kashmir, there is not a single gas filling station in the Valley.
 The owners said the government should install LPG filling stations in Kashmir. “It is bizarre that while the authorities are freely registering duo vehicles, the government is not installing the LPG filling stations in the Valley,” they said.
 “We are ready to pay commercial rates for LPG for refuelling our vehicles, but state government should first commission such stations,” Musaib Shabir, a Srinagar resident said, adding that “with the absence of gas stations here, government is actually forcing customers to use domestic gas in vehicles.”
 Even the officials of CAPD are pitching for LPG filling stations in Kashmir.
  “Before the centre government decision putting cap on subsidized gas cylinders, people were using LPG as a fuel in their vehicles, which would create shortage of gas in the market,” a CAPD official said, adding that once you have LPG filling stations for the vehicles, “the owners would be relieved and there won’t be any shortage in the market.”
 Pertinently, more than a year has passed since Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Qamar Ali Akhoon announced that state government will commission LPG filling stations in Kashmir valley.
 Even as the state government maintains that the land has been identified for setting up of the filling stations in Kashmir, officials in the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), nodal agency for the project, rebut.
  “We have not identified any location in Kashmir for setting up of the filling stations till now,” an official of IOC earlier told Greater Kashmir.
  “As soon as we will acquire the land we will initiate the work of commissioning two gas filling stations in Kashmir,” he said.
 He added that in Jammu “our experience has not been good. The demand of LPG from filling stations there is very little, as most of the vehicle owners still use domestic gas as fuel in their vehicles.”

Lastupdate on : Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST