Gas dearer and scarcer

Come winter and we start experiencing gas rationing. This situation has been persisting for the past five to six years, and yet there is no remedy in sight. Like most things, this issue too seems to be handled with short-cut measures. When temperature drops in colder regions of the country, gas to these parts are diverted from areas where people can do without gas heaters. The repetition of the same story year after year points to bad governance, lack of planning and incompetence. Now a hefty 214 per cent hike in gas prices has been proposed by Ogra in the midst of increasing gas outages in the country.

Until two years ago, people were informed in advance about the number of days in a week when gas would not be available, especially for public transport. This year, there is a complete blackout about the duration of gas outages. No one knows when CNG pumps will announce a gas shutdown, or about the duration of the shutdown. People do not know for how long in this season gas rationing will be in place. People are completely in the dark about the gas supply situation.

Last Saturday, commuters were caught unawares when they came out of their homes to travel to their workplaces finding very few public transport vehicles on the road. Gradually, they came to know that CNG pumps were closed. After one day’s respite on Monday, on Tuesday at midday again gas closure was abruptly announced. Harried commuters, including women and children, were left high and dry. Taking advantage of their helplessness transporters charged exorbitant fares. On display was another tragic flaw in our national life: lack of the rule of law. Gas rationing has been continuing on Wednesday with nothing known about the outage schedule. It was later revealed that Tuesday’s closure was necessecitated by outages at Roti tandoors.

The persisting gas shortage shows lack of planning on the part of the authorities. The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. Adhoc measures won’t do.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2019.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.