Gas shortage: Load-shedding for every season

The demand for LPG cylinders increased manifold in the twin cities after sustained shortfall of gas for domestic use.

ISLAMABAD: After queuing up hundreds of vehicles at CNG stations, gas woes have slid into the homes of the twin cities. For the past few weeks, domestic consumers have been experiencing gas load shedding of up to six hours.

Sending children to school, preparing breakfast and going to work have become an ordeal in the absence of heaters, geezers and stoves.

“It takes hours to cook food, there is no hot water anymore and some of my friends haven’t showered in four days. It’s simply gross!” said Gul, who lives in sector F6.

While in some areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, load shedding persists for almost four to six hours, other areas have been exempted from the plan.

Residents complained of the “discriminatory attitude” of authorities.

Naeem, who lives in sector G-6/4, said there was no gas for six hours during the day. Other times, the pressure of gas was so low, “it was as good as nothing.”

Similarly, the residents of Westridge, Sadiqabad and some parts of the Cantonment area complained of frequent load shedding.

Businesses are also reeling from the affects of gas shortage. At Khiva restaurant, business has gone down to 50%. “Every day we’ve had three to four tables complaining that the food has not been properly cooked,” said the manager.

A salesman at Abdullah Caterers said, “We are now using cylinders but due to the added cost we’ve had to jack up our prices. As a result, our sales have gone down.”

“Orders don’t get delivered on time,” complained the owner of Capital caterers. “As a result, people either cancel or don’t make full payments. There have been instances when orders worth half a million or more have gone to waste because the food wasn’t cooked properly.”

To make matters worse, the price of LPG has also increased after consumers had no choice but to rely on it in the wake of suspended gas supply. “A few days back, we were filling gas at Rs125 per kg. Now it has shot up to Rs150,” said Israr Khan, a resident of Bhara Kahu.

However, the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) decided on Monday to restore gas supply to the textile industry and CNG sector after closure for two days. General Manager Sales SNGPL Rehan Khan claimed that there was no gas load shedding for domestic consumers. “The gas pressure has become automatically low due to excessive use in some areas. Such a situation leads to suspension of gas in others,” he said.

The supply of gas according to officials stands at 2000 mmcfd against a demand of 2600 mmcfd. Due to this shortfall, SNGL had to suspend gas to CNG stations and industries for days to provide for the domestic consumer. Khan said CNG owners should switch off their compressors during peak ours for domestic users, like lunch and dinner time. “Domestic users should also try to avoid using heaters and geezers,” he added.  Additional reporting by  Momina Sibtain

Queues mark various stations

Despite opening of CNG stations after three days of forced closure, motorists again faced problems at different stations due to low pressure of gas.

Long queues were seen at different stations and many motorists could not reach the filling point.

Most of the motorists were furious due to the government’s “inefficiency and inadequate measures to deal with the situation.”

“I could not fill gas despite standing in the queue for hours,” said a taxi driver Asim Khan. He said that it was a painful exercise as he could not fill the gas even after three days.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2011.