PM orders licences of pumps denying subsidised fuel to be cancelled

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday ordered that the licences of petrol pumps refusing subsidised fuel to registered beneficiaries under the Prime Minister's Fuel Relief Programme be cancelled. He warned of strict action against outlets that deny the subsidy to eligible citizens.

The directive came at a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad, held to review the programme. Sharif told authorities to ensure that registered beneficiaries face no hurdles in getting subsidised fuel and that petrol pumps follow government instructions.

A briefing at the meeting said 15,519,282 citizens had registered so far. Of these, 15.06 million were motorcycle owners and 449,800 owned vehicles with engine capacities of up to 800cc.

The meeting was told that 63,153,685 fuel subsidy tokens had been issued and 59,445,347 redeemed, a redemption rate of just over 94%. Payments of Rs28.6 billion had been made as of November 4, which is 38% of the total amount allocated.

Sharif said registrations had increased after the process was simplified. "As a result of simplifying the process of registration and obtaining subsidies, there has been an increase in registrations, and more deserving citizens are benefiting from this facility," he said. He called the technology-driven, transparent mechanism a potential game-changer for future public welfare initiatives.

He commended IT Minister Shaza Fatima, Federal Secretary Zarar Hashim Khan and their teams for setting up a monitoring mechanism and dashboard. Separate call centres have been set up for consumers and petrol pumps to get information and report issues. Sharif stressed that monitoring must stay effective and subsidies must reach beneficiaries without discrimination or administrative obstacles.

Authorities discussed station-wise monitoring through the IT ministry's dashboard and proposed audits of pumps with unusually low redemption figures. The Express Tribune reported on October 25 that around 31,000 consumers had been denied subsidies, which led the government to order an audit of fuel stations and correction of registration errors. Complaints included refusal of service, technical faults, expired tokens and registration discrepancies.