ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — The government has ordered audits of petrol stations and a fresh push to reach consumers after around 31,000 people missed out on discounted fuel under the Prime Minister’s Fuel Relief Scheme, according to a government review.
The scheme, announced on September 13, gives eligible users of motorcycles, rickshaws, chingchis and cars of up to 800cc petrol at Rs100 a litre below the pump price.
Expired tokens
The review found that 10,344 fuel-relief tokens had expired before they could be redeemed. Of the roughly 31,000 consumers contacted about tokens they had not used, about 11,000 said they had not had enough time, while around 13,000 said they had either been refused at a petrol station or had run into a technical problem.
Officials want those consumers contacted again and encouraged to generate a new token and try again.
Registration problems
The government’s 9771 helpline has received about 3,000 calls about the scheme, including:
- 972 complaints about registration
- 414 cases where the province did not match
- 72 incomplete registrations
- 250 duplicate registration attempts that need checking
Some consumers and pump staff also wrongly believed a motorcycle had to be registered in the applicant’s own name. That rule was relaxed for motorcycles and three-wheelers, many of which change hands on open transfer letters. For cars of up to 800cc, only the registered owner can apply.
Pumps under audit
Around four million discounted fills have been recorded at about 8,000 filling stations, an average of close to 500 a station. Any station with fewer than 50 subsidised transactions will now be audited by provincial and district administrations.
Officials will also watch stations handling unusually high volumes and send extra devices where long queues form. Consumers who are refused or hit a technical fault are being urged to file a complaint through the official system rather than leave without reporting it.
