‘No pressure’: This season, get ready for gas load-shedding

Hundreds of households brave low gas pressures, women decry not being able to cook at home.

KARACHI: As cold winds grip the city, unannounced gas load-shedding by the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has made life miserable for hundreds of households.

Women, in particular, complain about low gas pressures at homes and decry not being able to prepare food. They either have to cook food at odd times or buy it from restaurants.

For instance, in Malir Cantonment, Saira Jameel has to wait until 11pm to cook dinner when the gas supply resumes. “My family has to stay hungry till then. That is the time when I have to prepare breakfast too because at six in the morning, the pressure falls down again.”

In Korangi No. 2.5, Rehmat Bibi can’t make rotis or food at home and is forced to buy food from nearby hotels. “Often, we have to eat cold food because we can’t warm it. We also skip meals because we can’t afford to buy from outside all the time,” said the domestic worker.

Other areas where unannounced gas load shedding by the Sui Southern Gas Company is taking place include Lyari, Korangi, Landhi, and Nazimabad. Residents in some parts of Phase IV and V of the DHA are also complaining of low gas pressures.

Not just households, but commercial establishments at roadside hotels are also facing the brunt. In Jackson Bazaar, Keamari, a hotel owner, Jan Sher said that he and other hotels were now using traditional fuel , coal and wood, instead of gas. “This procedure is slow, tedious and expensive but we switched to it after gas was also low during our peak time.” He said that even tandoor vendors in the area were switching from gas to wood.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2013.