Sibling rivalry shuts CNG supply at Sector 29

GURGAON: CNG supply by Haryana City Gas (HCG) to Sector 29 was stopped on Saturday midnight over an ownership fight for the station by two brothers, Satish and Kapil Chopra, putting hundreds of commuters in great distress on Sunday morning.On Sunday morning several customers coming to refill their vehicles with CNG found that the station was closed. They immediately went to other CNG stations, where it was available.A spokesperson from the office of Satish Chopra said, "The Sector 29 CNG station is operated by ANA CNG station, who has defaulted on depositing daily cash sale in the bank account of the company. The amount withheld by the operator is approximately Rs 3.10 crore.Haryana City Gas is not able to pay its dues to IGL and GAIL because of which there is a shortfall in cash deposits. In view of the circumstances, MD Satish Chopra decided to take over the operations of the company till the account is settled by the operator.When the company officials reached the pump with Satish Chopra, no operator was around.In the presence of police, the pump operations were discontinued. The operation will be resumed once the operator deposits the said amount in the company bank account."A spokesperson of the Kapil Chopra office gave a different version. "Satish Chopra along with Deepika Setia and 150 musclemen entered the Sector 29 CNG station at 1.30am and tried to sabotage the station. They beat up all the staff, security guards and the manager of the station. Satish Chopra has just signed an MoU with his brother Kapil on July 30 and as per the MoU the shareholding in the company is 50:50. And he is sabotaging the station since he doesn't want to implement the MoU and he is trying to pressure Kapil Chopra and his supporting franchises.""We did not get any help from Gurgaon police as they were influenced by Satish Chopra's instructions," the spokesperson said.The two brothers were seen arguing till 9am on Sunday at the Sector 29 CNG station.Peeved customers said that the two bothers should settle their disputes in court not at the CNG station, inconveniencing the public.Autorickshaw drivers, who were the worst affected by the sibling rivalry, complained that if the impasse continued they would lose their livelihood.Déjà vu• CNG supply was disrupted last May over pending dues worth several lakhs of rupees.• Haryana City Gas (HCG) gets CNG from Indraprastha Gas Limited.• Gurgaon commuters, who are already in trouble because of the limited number of CNG stations, are now in deeper trouble with the closure of one station(P-talk) Harassed commuters"I shudder when I recall those days in May when there were no CNG in Gurgaon over some dispute between the two bothers. Now, the same brothers are making us suffer" - Dinesh, auto driver"These are working days and all offices are open. Everybody will face problems" - Sakti Singh, a commuter"Before things take an ugly turn, the brothers should solve their problems and see that commuters are not harassed" - Devi Sehag, auto driver.