The rising prices of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has added to woes for the people who have urged the authorities concerned to take effective measures for bringing down the commodity at an affordable level. “The prices of edibles are already high and the unbridled rising trend in LPG prices has aggravated the problems further for people especially living in remote areas where inhabitants are compelled to use firewood or LPG for cooking purposes,” Nasir Khan said. He was of the view that currently LPG was used with immense inconvenience for its high prices and the government should take action against the elements that maneuvered the situation to their advantage. He said that he was living in a rented house and all his savings and monthly salary drained on account of various utility bills and other household expenditures, adding one really went ballistic to see prices of LPG prices going up. Some measures need to be taken in this regard. Another resident, Israr Khan said that the high rates of LPG also led to deforestation especially in hilly areas where people were heavily dependent either on LPG or firewood, adding such moves on the part of LPG sector also provided an opportunity to timber mafia and opportunists to exploit the situation in their favour. Chairman LPG Industry association Irfan Khokhar says that LPG is the main source of fuel in far-flung areas and such unbridled increase in its prices adds to woes for people. He called for effective measures for increasing its production of LPG to overcome the yawning gap between demand and supply of the commodity in the country. He says that gone are the days when one kilogram of LPG used to be sold at merely Rs80 but now it has gone up massively and the facility was getting out of bound for the low-income people. He was of the view that the government should take some programmatic measures for arresting the rising trend in LPG prices as demand of the commodity would grow further when weather turns cool and winter sets in. He also called for action to be taken against those elements involved in the business of substandard cylinders which put people’s lives at risk. He was of the view that a ban should be imposed on factories involved in manufacturing of substandard cylinders. He said that LPG association would continue extending its support to help augment the role of the regulator and ensure transparency in the market. He said that the association was effectively working for resolving issues of the LPG sector in order to extend relief to the common man.