KARACHI, Dec 8: Since more than half of the buses in the city are being run on CNG, the decision of an 18hour closure of gas stations till Friday evening has brought back to commuters unpleasant memories of the last week closure that caused most public transport to remain off the road.

Many commuters are worried about their travel in the absence of buses despite the assurance transporters had given to them that the problem would persist only for a few hours between noon and 5pm and the business would be resumed as soon as the gas supply was restored.

The previous closure of CNG stations for two days under a gas load management programme caused transporters to keep buses and minibuses off the road that resulted in thin attendance at educational institutions and offices.

Even the commercial areas presented a deserted look.

However, better sense prevailed this time as the government keeping in view the difficulties to be faced by the people in general and commuters in particular announced that CNG stations would remain closed for 18 hours only from 11pm on Thursday till 5pm on Friday.

Sources said that between 50 and 60 per cent minibuses and around 25 per cent buses, which had diesel engines, had been converted to the relatively cheap fuel of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

But it is not yet clear how careful the transporters were while getting CNG cylindersand kits installed in their minibuses and buses. If they did not use standard equipment in an attempt to cut costs, they were running a grave risk.

Only on Wednesday evening, the explosion of a gas cylinder in a van left at least 11 people, majority of them children, dead near Hyderabad.

Responding to Dawn queries, Karachi Transport Ittehad chief Irshad Bokhari said that hardly 10 to 15 per cent of the buses and between 50 and 60 percent of the minibuses had been converted.

He said that the diesel-engine vehicles would run normally throughout the day while only the CNG-powered vehicles would go off the road at noon owing to unavailability of gas.

He added that the CNG buses would resume operation at 5pm as soon as the gas supply was restored.

`People will face problems only for three to four hours,` he said.

Mr Bokhari said the diesel-engine conversion, including gas cylinders, cost around Rs200,000 and a transporter saved around Rs1,000 a day on fuel expenses after conversion. But unlike petrol engine which after conversion to CNG had an option to run on petrol also, a diesel engine after conversion to CNG could not operate on diesel, according to him.

Recalling that some people moved courts complaining about smoke emission and the court had asked transporters to look for cleaner fuel options, he said that the transporters converted their diesel-engine vehicles to CNG which was a relatively cleaner fuel.

About the safety issue, he said that CNG was a safe fuel and public transport in many countries used CNG. Responding to some incidents in which gas cylinders in public transport had exploded, he said that there were crooks in every business and there would be some unscrupulous people among transporters also. It was possible that some shortsighted transporters had installed substandard equipment that resulted in accidents, he added.

However, he said, it was the government`s responsibility to ensure that only standard equipment was sold in the markets.

`The government should take action against such unscrupulous people,` he said.

He said that police fitness tests did not cover CNG kits and cylinders at present. But he was of the opinion it would not serve the purpose even if the fitness tests did cover the CNG equipment, citing that the condition of public transport being run on roads made one wonder how the vehicle had passed the fitness test.

Mr Bokhari had some good news for commuters also. He said unlike the previous practice, fares would now be revised only when CNG prices were enhanced, which was not a very regular feature.