Gas shortages continue to disrupt cooking

During the winter season, people require a stable supply of gas not only for cooking purposes but also for heating their homes in a cost-effective manner however, for citizens in the coastal city of Karachi, plagued by incessant gas outages, even the routine task of preparing basic meals and hot beverages in the kitchen requires much patience and effort.

Nadia, a homemaker residing in a flat at the Rashid Minhas Road shared her struggle to prepare meals given the sporadic spells of gas loadshedding. “Since the onset of the winter season gas is unavailable for almost 16 to 20 hours a day. Not only is the supply cut off through the night, it is also stopped throughout various times of the day,” said Nadia.

Concurring with Nadia, Farida, a resident of Surjani Town, and Sahar, a resident of Liaquatabad, both revealed that the unannounced closure of gas, had disrupted their cooking schedules and eating habits.

“Many a times our children have to go to school hungry since there is no gas before 8am in the morning,” lamented Farida.

“When our LPG cylinders run out, we have no choice but to purchase bread, and tea from the hotel, which is very costly,” added Sahar.

Seconding Sahar, Ali Suhail, a finance officer at a firm, said, “People are already suffering due to inflation and limited financial resources. When there is no gas at night, people have to line up at the hotel and buy bread.”

Asif Raza, a hotel owner, confirmed Suhail’s observation, when he reported receiving a large influx of customers, who could not prepare bread at home due to the gas outage. “We are also using LPG stoves at our hotels, due to which the cost of bread has increased,” revealed Raza, who further added that due to the increase in demand for LPG, commercial cylinders were booked by hotels a week in advance.

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“At present, apart from domestic consumers, most of the food manufacturers are running their business on LPG. Since, natural gas reserves are depleting rapidly, in the next two to three years, it is estimated that 90 percent of Karachi’s domestic consumers will shift to LPG,” predicted Masood Khan, a local distributor of LPG.

“Due to the increasing demand, some profiteers are selling LPG from Rs270 to Rs300 per kg informed Irfan Khokhar, chairman of the LPG Distributors Association, who implored the government to formulate a strategy for making LPG more affordable in the coming years.

According to Mohammad Owais Ashraf, an expert in the energy sector, a lot of investment is needed in the energy sector for discovering new gas reserves. “At present, natural gas reserves are decreasing rapidly therefore, circular debt in the gas sector has to be reduced,” opined Ashraf, who stressed on the importance of resolving the country’s energy crisis for future generations.

However, Abdul Sami Khan, Chairman of the All-Pakistan Petroleum and CNG Dealers Association believed that energy projects initiated by the government usually failed to reach completion. “In 1990, an environment-friendly energy project was launched to reduce the consumption of petroleum, by switching a large number of vehicles to CNG. However, the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project could not be completed due to various reasons, and we used up our natural gas reserves mercilessly. Now the situation has become such that gas is also disappearing for domestic consumers,” highlighted Khan.

“Since the demand for gas during winters exceeds its supply, the gas load management plan has to be implemented,” claimed an official from the Sui Southern Gas Company.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th 2024.