Gas guzzler: ‘Borrowing’ a pipeline to power a business

Man accused of stealing enough gas to service several housing colonies.

GUJRANWALA:

A case was registered against a factory owner accused of stealing gas worth millions of rupees and his business was sealed on Sunday.

The accused fled the district and police officials are searching for his whereabouts. Sui Northern gas engineer Asim Mir disovered that a main 16-inch pipeline near GT Road, Alam Chowk caught fire on Sunday. When a rescue team reached the scene they discovered that an industrialist, Abdul Razaq, was stealing gas from the pipeline and was operating an iron furnace at his factory. A police team then broke the lock of the factory and confiscated all the equipment on site. The engineer said that the pipelines can provide gas to thousands of houses but was being used to run Razaq’s business. “Even a CNG station only requires a 4-inch pipeline to operate for months. This man was stealing gas that could power housing colonies,” Mir said. According to the department, if the fire erupted in a congested area it could have killed hundreds of people. Asim Mir said that so far Rs50 million worth of gas has been stolen but Sui employees said that on examination the total loss was more than Rs100 million.  On application of Sui Northern general manager Malik Zia Mehmood a case has been registered against the accused.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2011.