Gas supply Disruption in City: Titas, RHD trade blame

Thousands of people in different parts of the capital suffered badly after being hit by a severe gas crisis as a Titas connection was damaged in Amin Bazar on the outskirts of the city on Monday night.

While Titas and Roads and Highways Department (RHD) officials traded blame for the situation, many of the affected people did not get the gas connection back till 8:00pm yesterday, when this report was filed.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd officials said the gas line was damaged by an RHD contractor.

The problem began after the feeder line was damaged around 9:00pm on Monday during a construction work of Salehpur bridge over the Turag river in Amin Bazar, Titas Director (Operations) Shafiqul Islam Khan said.

He said they were working on it and that they were trying to keep gas supply normal.

RHD officials, on the other hand, said the line was installed on RHD land without permission and that they were not aware of its presence.

Arguing that the RHD cannot be held responsible for the people's suffering, the officials said no such gas line should be installed so close to a main road.

Titas officials said they took due permission during the installation of the gas line.

In the meantime, thousands of people in Mohammadpur, Lalmatia, parts of Dhanmondi, Jhigatola, Razabazar, Indira road, Pirerbagh, Hajaribagh, and Eskaton suffered due to a shortage of gas.

Unable to get gas at home, those people bought food from restaurants. Some used electric cookers.

Rumana Sharmin, a housewife who lives in Lalmatia, said she woke up around 7:00am and found that they had no gas.

The woman had to buy breakfast from a nearby restaurant. She also had to buy lunch and other meals for her family from outside.

Mousumi Sumi, a resident of Mohammadpur, was in a similar situation. "I got up at 6:30am and saw that the gas pressure of my stove was extremely low. Although cooking with it was extremely tough, I managed to boil an egg and cook some rice. But it took hours," she said, adding that everybody in the building she lives was in trouble due to the sudden gas crisis.

Surovi Rozario, a resident of Razabazar, said she had to use an electric cooker to make breakfast for their family.

BLAME TRADE

Talking to this daily, Mohammed Shamim Al Mamun, RHD executive engineer (Dhaka division), said they did not know the gas line was there.

"Even Titas was initially not sure whether the gas line was there. They confirmed it around two to three hours after the incident," he said.

"They [Titas gas authority] were supposed to take permission for installing a gas line on RHD's land. But as far as I know, they did not take any such permission," he said.

"Even if they have the permission, the gas line should be installed at the right place. But it was installed right beside the main road," he added.

Shafiqul Islam Khan, the Titas director, said the road of the RHD was constructed around 20 years back and all installations were done in government land.

He said they obtained permission from the authorities concerned during the installation of the gas pipeline. He added that the allegation that the line was installed at the wrong place was not true.

"When a project is taken, other relevant organisations send proposals to their planning divisions. If there is any issue, then a particular entity implementing the project either changes the project plan or others shift their utility lines. But in this case, they [RHD] did not submit any such proposal," he said.

Shafiqul said they would demand compensation from the RHD for the damage of their gas line connection. They will send a letter to the RHD following the assessment of the financial loss, he said.