My wife and I had to slash on the basic needs of our school-going children to save money to pay soaring gas bills
ISLAMABAD: Like many other consumers, the residents of street number four, G-9/3 sector in Islamabad are shocked to receive abnormally high gas bills this month. Last month, too, the residents of this sector were shocked when most of their bills doubled, tripled and even quadrupled. The shocked consumers approached the callous management of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on the telephone numbers given on the bill and the website, which are 051-92577-11 and 9257713-19. But they received a cold-shouldered response from the SNGPL management. The consumers were compelled to pay these skyrocketing bills. Had they delayed or not paid the bills, they would have lost their gas service. I know that several customers headed to banks and at other specified places to pay their bills before the deadline.
One young lawyer living in the abovementioned sector had this to say about the current state of affairs: “We had to take from Peter to pay Paul. My wife and I had to slash on the basic needs of our school-going children to save money to pay soaring gas bills.”
Another old lady from the same sector, who has a two-member family, has to pay a gas bill of more than Rs8,000 every month. She has lodged her complaint several times with the relevant wing, but no one seems to care about this in an unjust and exploitative society.
Hashim Abro
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
