Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday announced a new “special relief scheme” to soften the blow of this week’s petrol price hike for motorcycle riders, rickshaw drivers and owners of small cars, opening registration the same day through a dedicated government portal.
The relief kicks in after petrol rose to Rs375.82 per litre and high-speed diesel to Rs403.32 per litre following the latest fortnightly price revision. Announcing the scheme, the prime minister said the government was “fully aware of the burden being placed on the public due to the increase in oil prices,” adding that “in this hour of difficulty, we will not leave the public alone.”
“The government is fully aware of the burden being placed on the public due to the increase in oil prices. In this hour of difficulty, we will not leave the public alone.” — PM Shehbaz Sharif
According to Dawn, the scheme offers a flat discount of Rs100 per litre, capped by monthly fuel quotas that vary by vehicle type. The Express Tribune reported the same rupee amount and quota structure, with the government crediting the provinces for supplying the vehicle registration data needed to run it.
| Vehicle Category | Relief per Litre | Monthly Quota |
|---|---|---|
| Motorcycles | Rs100 | 20 litres |
| Auto-rickshaws / Qingqi rickshaws | Rs100 | 20 litres |
| Cars up to 800cc | Rs100 | 30 litres |
Registration opened on September 13 through the portal pmfuelrelief.pk, with the government saying it will run public awareness campaigns to walk eligible owners through the sign-up process. Officials have not yet disclosed the scheme’s total cost or how many vehicles are expected to benefit.
Reports differ slightly on exactly when the discounted rate takes effect at the pump. Dawn reported the scheme goes live in Islamabad from midnight on September 15, extending to the rest of the country, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from midnight on September 17. The Express Tribune, however, put the Islamabad rollout at the night of September 16-17, with the nationwide extension following on the night of September 18-19. PakDaily could not independently confirm which timeline is accurate as of publication; readers should treat the exact go-live date as tentative until officials confirm it closer to the rollout.
The subsidy comes as global oil markets stay jittery over Middle East tensions. Dawn linked the price pressure to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab strait, while the Express Tribune pointed more specifically to US-Iran tensions and Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities as the drivers pushing crude — and consequently pump prices — higher. Of the current Rs375.82 petrol price, the government’s own tax component is Rs114 per litre, and Rs100 per litre on diesel, according to Dawn.
The Tribune noted the new scheme builds on an earlier “technology-based subsidy framework” rolled out in March, suggesting the government is leaning on digital registration rather than blanket price cuts to target relief at lower-income commuters. For background on the price hike itself, see PakDaily’s earlier report on the September petrol and diesel price revision.
Our Opinion
Targeted fuel subsidies for two- and three-wheelers are politically the easiest kind of relief to announce — they reach a huge, visible slice of commuters without touching the retail price everyone else pays — but the mechanism matters more than the announcement; a portal-based quota system is only as good as how quickly ordinary riders can actually register and how transparently the promised Rs100/litre shows up at the pump, and the government’s own inability to say what this will cost or how many vehicles qualify is the kind of gap that tends to widen once a scheme is live rather than close, so the real test here isn’t Saturday’s press conference but whether pmfuelrelief.pk is still smoothly processing claims a month from now.
