Gas supply: Industries refuse to cooperate, pressure falls

Consumers in Sialkot turning to alternatives.

FAISALABAD/SIALKOT:

Several residential areas in Faisalabad on Saturday experienced low gas pressure for the fourth consecutive day as industrial units continued operating despite Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited’s request for a four-day  closure of to ensure reliable supply to domestic consumers.

Residents complained that cooking food and heating water had become very difficult. Amina, a house wife, said it was taking her over an hour to fry an egg for her children’s breakfast. “I have to cook breakfast for my husband and four children,” she said. “This is taking me up to three hours,” she said. Aqsa, another housewife, said the gas pressure at her house was not enough to run a geyser. She said in these four days most of her time had been spent in boiling water for the male members of her family.

Several restaurants and marriage halls managers said they have also been suffering for four days because of the standoff between industrial units and the SNGPL.

In Sialkot, SNGPL has suspended gas supply in several areas, forcing people to look for alternative fuels for cooking food and heating water.

The areas affected by the outages are: Rangpura, Hajipura, Mohallah Kashmirian, Nahal Chand Street, Dharowal, Shahabpura, Mubarakpura, Mianapura, Hadi Town, Fatehgarh, Muhammadpura, Wazirpura, Naikapura, Imam Sahib, Deputy Bagh, Greenwood Street, Allama Iqbal Colony and Saddar Bazaar. Cantonment and its adjacent affected by the outages are Uggoke, Kharota Syedan, Islamic Watan Road, Pulli Topkhana, Both, Berth and Chak Mandahir.

Fauzia Bibi, a resident of Mohllah Hajipura, said her family had been shifted to LPG for cooking food. She said they were buying LPG cylinders at around Rs120 to 130 per kg.

Muhammad Zahid, a shopkeeper in Pakpura, said he had started using stoves fuelled by kerosene oil to cook food. He complained that the suspension of gas supply was not reflected in the monthly gas bills.  Haji Afzal, a restaurant owner, said that he was using five wood bought at Rs450 to 600 per 40 kg to cook food at his restaurant.

He said while his costs had risen he could not increase prices  as it would lead to turn customers away.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2011.