Denying fuel relief to registered beneficiaries: PM threatens to cancel licences of petrol pumps

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced that he will revoke the licenses of petrol pumps that fail to provide fuel to registered beneficiaries under the government’s Fuel Relief Programme. The directive came after Sharif was briefed on the progress of the initiative, which has seen over 15.5 million people register and Rs28.6 billion disbursed in subsidies as of November 4.

At a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, officials reported that 15,519,282 citizens have registered, including 15.06 million motorcycle owners and 449,000 owners of vehicles with engines up to 800cc. The programme has issued 63,153,685 fuel subsidy tokens, with 59,445,347 already redeemed. Sharif praised the program’s transparency and simplification of procedures, but also emphasized that petrol outlets must cooperate, as non-compliance would result in license cancellation.

He highlighted the role of Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima and other officials in creating a monitoring system to oversee the program’s success.