Chittagong city dwellers witness an unhappy beginning to a new year as they suffer from severe gas crisis for more than four days now.
Most of the city’s households and gas refuelling stations has been experiencing low or frequently disrupted gas supply while many areas suffered from low gas pressure.
The areas most affected by this crisis were Agrabad, Chowmuhoni, Bowbazar, Halishahar, Patenga, Chakbazar, Jamalkhan, Nasirabad, Pathorghata and Bahddarhat.
City dwellers said they have been forced to choose alternative systems of cooking amid the gas crisis that started in the port city since last week of December and got severe recently.
Sources at Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) told The Daily Star that the Chittagong region requires 400 mmscf (million standard cubic feet) of gas supply everyday while it’s getting only half of this amount.
Moreover, the region’s demand of gas pressure is 320 PSI (pound per square inch) whereas it has been getting below 215 PSI, the sources said.
Chanda Chowdhury, a dweller of Jamalkhan, said that it has become a common scenario in the city that the gas supply to households is intermittently stopped from around 7:00am till 3:00pm.
Whenever the supply resumes, the gas comes at a low pressure at which it’s very difficult to cook, she said.
As a result, people find it very difficult and time consuming to cook meals during the day, she added.
Another resident of Lalkhan Bazar, Sourav Sen, said the gas crisis has increased much in last couple of days. He had to arrange kerosene oil based stove in his house for cooking.
GAS REFUELING STATIONS FACE CRISIS
The city’s CNG refueling stations too have been facing a dearth of gas supply like the residential connections this week, said sources at different stations.
The gas refueling stations are experiencing disrupted gas supply and low pressure outside the 3:00pm-9:00pm time slot when there is an embargo on their operations, said Harun-ur-Rashid, general secretary of Chattragram Mahanagar Auto-rickshaw, Auto-tempo and CNG Sramik Kallayan Union.
On Thursday, 37 out of the port city’s 54 gas refueling stations remained closed due to no gas supply, said Iqbal Mohammad Monsurul Karim, general secretary of the Chittagong unit of Bangladesh CNG Refueling Station and Conversion Owners’ Association.
Admitting the gas crisis, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, deputy general manager of KGDCL, said they are unable to maintain a smooth gas supply to the city dwellers as the region is not getting sufficient gas supply from the national grid and other sources.
He also said it’s a common scenario in the winter season that the gas pressure drops below the expected PSI.
-With The Daily Star input
