Acute gas crisis continues to hit city parts

Sazzad Hossain was waiting to buy food for his family of four at a restaurant in Mohammadpur's Zakir Hossain Road. They could not cook anything at home because of a gas crisis.

"There has been no gas in our home for the last two days. I have already spent more than a thousand taka for breakfast, lunch and dinner items," he said, standing at the restaurant yesterday afternoon.

Sazzad, a 55-year-old service holder, also said since food from outside was expensive and oily, he was thinking about getting an electric cooker.

Asif Iqbal, another man who lives in the same area, was a bit luckier than Sazzad. His family was being provided with food by a relative, who is using a gas cylinder to cook.

"But how long can this continue?" Asif asked.

Like them, thousands of people in different areas of the capital, including Mohammadpur, Adabor, Lalmatia, Dhanmondi, Eskaton, Indira Road, Razabazar, Green Road and Jigatola continued to face hardships for the second straight day yesterday due to a gas crisis.

Titas gas authorities repairing a gas pipe damaged during the construction work of Salehpur Bridge on Dhaka-Aricha highway. The bridge is being constructed by the Roads and Highways Department. Photo: Palash Khan

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd officials said the problem began after one of their feeder lines was damaged around 9:00pm on Monday while construction work was underway at Salehpur bridge over the Turag river in Amin Bazar, on the outskirts of the city.

Titas officials blamed the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), saying the pipeline was damaged by an RHD constructor.

RHD officials, on the other hand, claimed that they were unaware of the connection on RHD land since the pipeline was built without permission.

Titas officials, however, claimed they did take permission during the installation of the line.

"We are working and trying to repair the pipeline by today," Titas Director (Operations) Shafiqul Islam Khan told The Daily Star yesterday.

Unable to get gas at home, most of the affected people flocked to restaurants in their areas. Others used electric cookers.

Under the circumstances, restaurants in those areas, which mainly use gas cylinders, were making good profits.

Md Abu Taher, manager of Café Modina and Kabab Ghar at Zakir Hossain Road, said their sales had almost doubled.

Similar was the situation at many other restaurants visited by this correspondent yesterday.

Many of the affected people expressed dissatisfaction at the delay in fixing the problem.

Meanwhile, Titas issued a press statement, expressing regret for the situation. It also said the gas pressure would remain low till noon today.

GAS SHORTAGE

Titas Director Shafiqul said the gas crisis yesterday did not result from the damage caused to the pipeline on Monday. He said they were supplying gas through another connection in Amin Bazar, but the overall supply in the Titas network was low, making it difficult for them to get gas to residential areas.

"We are now getting less gas from Gas Transmission Company Limited [GTCL] and trying to keep the gas supply at normal level," he said.

He said there were two supply lines at Amin Bazar. "A 16-inche pipeline was not damaged, we are providing the gas through that," he said.

"Repairing the damaged gas line is taking some time as the connection goes under the river. We hope to repair it by today," he added.

Contacted, Titas Director (public relations) Mirza Mahbub Hossain said they need at least 1,900 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas from GTCL to meet consumers' demand. Titas, however, was getting 1,600mmcfd to 1,650mmcfd gas yesterday, he said.

Titas supplies gas in areas including Dhaka, Gazipur, Savar, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Sherpur, Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Jamalpur, Munshiganj and Mymensingh. It has approximately 28.55 lakh household connections, said its officials.

Contacted, Managing Director Md Atiquzzaman of GTCL told The Daily Star that their supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) yesterday was 300 to 350 mmcfd less than that of Tuesday.

"Normally, GTCL gets up to 890mmcfd LNG, but we are getting 565mmcfd to 570mmcfd LNG today," he said yesterday.

He said operations of Summit LNG, which used to supply 500mmcfd, got halted following a technical glitch. The crisis may continue for two to three days, he added.

"We lower our gas supply in different sectors proportionately during the winter, but the irrigation season is going now. Because of this, residential areas are facing the crisis for the time being," he added.

The GTCL MD also said they usually get over 3350mmcfd and supply 1900mmcfd to Titas.