President Karachi Transport Ittehad Syed Irshad Hussain on Wednesday announced that a wheel-jam strike will be observed on December 31 in protest against the frequent closure of CNG in the metropolis and the expected raise in diesel tariffs.

He said this during a joint meeting of CNG Associations. Other members of KTI were also with him. The participants demanded Federal Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain to immediately halt the closure of CNG stations in Sindh and save the public transporters who heavily rely on CNG to run their minibuses from total devastation.

Irshad Bukhari said that during the tenure of previous government the diesel was being sold at Rs44 per liter while it stands at Rs100 now.

He said that as their business was on the verge of collapse; therefore, they had to convert their vehicles to CNG, adding that around 60percent of their vehicles have already been converted on CNG.

He said that due to the closure of gas stations both the general public and transporters are facing immense nuisance. He said that millions of rupees have been spent over the conversion of public transport vehicles to CNG and the transporters cannot afford to revert back to diesel.

Irshad Bukhari appealed to the President, Prime Minister and Federal Minister for Petroleum to have mercy on them and exempt CNG stations from gas closure. Later on a rally from YMCA Ground to Fawara Chowk was also staged.