Acute shortage: Citizens cry foul at ‘discriminatory’ gas supply

Parts of Rawalpindi, Islamabad bear brunt of low gas pressure.

ISLAMABAD: As chill and cold weather has gripped the twin cities, residents in some parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad complained about discriminatory treatment in terms of gas supply by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).

The worst-hit areas in Rawalpindi included Chaklala Scheme-III, Shamsabad Model Colony, Sadiqabad, Dhoke Paracha, Azizabad, Tench Batta, Mughalabad, Dboke Chaudhrian, Gulshan Shafi Colony, Ghausia Chowk, Kamalabad, Tahli Mori, Ghaziabad Colony, Adiala Road, Harley Street and Dheri Hassanabad.

In Islamabad, residents of sectors G-8/1, G-8/2, the whole of G-6, G-5 and G-4 sectors complained about low or zero gas pressure.

The residents claimed that SNGPL was meting out discriminatory treatment to them in gas supply.

A top SNGPL official denying discriminatory gas supply claims while admitting that there was low gas pressure in some tail-end areas where gas lines have been laid in a unidirectional layout.

Arshad Anwar and Usman Javed, residents of Shamsabad Model Colony, said that they have lodged complaints with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority regarding low gas pressure in their area, but the complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

According to them, complaints on the SNGPL helpline go down the drain as officials only offer verbal assurances but never bother to visit areas where gas supply is low.

“The gas authorities consistently send us utility bills against various heads, but without providing gas, which speaks volumes of the fact that they (officials) have scant idea about the gas situation in certain areas,” said Abu Bakar, a resident of Dhok Paracha Rawalpindi.

Due to low gas pressure and suspension, residents of many different localities were seen at LPG cylinder vendors buying canisters.

Jamila Khan, a resident of Tipu Market in Sector G-8/2, said that their area was already facing an acute shortage of gas, but the last three to four days were awful as there was not even enough gas supply to boil water.

Shazia Khan, a resident of Azizabad in Rawalpindi, said the gas issue has become so acute in their area that she struggles to prepare meals at home and must rush to restaurants to get food most of the time.

Nusrat Hanif, a resident of Bilal Colony, complained that the zero gas supply in their area has left them at the mercy of bakers, restaurateurs and shopkeepers for basic food items.

“Enough is enough. We are forced to buy eatables from markets at high prices. We get and pay gas bills regularly despite the fact we get no gas,” said Asif Khan, a resident of Adiala Road.

SNGPL Managing Director Arif Hamid said that the company was getting 1,420 million cubic feet (mcf) from the main supply chain, compared to1,630 mcf last year.

He said that after the gas supply disruption in Balochistan, many areas in the twin cities had to face low gas pressure and loadshedding, which, according to him, started to improve on Wednesday.

While talking about loadshedding and low gas pressure in certain areas, he said that the residents of some tail-end areas, where the pipelines have been laid in unidirectional layouts, were facing low gas pressure and loadshedding.

He claimed that the situation will improve in such areas once gas was fully restored from the main line. In areas where unidirectional lines have been laid, tail-end consumers could still face pressure issues, he admitted.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2014.