Breakfast blues: For Pindiites, firewood and microwaves become norm

Severe gas outages hit Rawalpindi, some areas without supply for over 12 hours.

RAWALPINDI:

The government’s mismanagement of gas supply has forced many people to go on diets against their will.

Severe gas outages in the garrison city, particularly in the early hours of the day, are creating major problems for residents and forced many to go to work sans breakfast.

The worst-affected areas include Dhoke Babu Irfan, Dhoke Kala Khan, Iqbal Town, Shah Faisal Colony, Fazal Town, Khana Pul, Sadiqabad, Shakrial, Jahaz Ground and Shamshabad.

In these areas, people have to face more than 12 hours of gas load-shedding. Due to the lengthy outages and low pressure at times when there is supply, people face multiple problems.

“I prepare breakfast at night.  Otherwise, I have to go to school without breakfast,” said Mehwish Ali, a school teacher. She said that the shortage has badly disturbed her routine.

Like Mehwish, others residents, who were interviewed by The Express Tribune said that gas load-shedding was usually done from 5am to 10am and 6pm to 12am, the peak hours for cooking and heating.

In the absence of gas, people are forced to use alternative resources, and in many areas, plumes of smoke from firewood could be seen as people labored to prepare hot meals.  The lucky few who can afford LPG are using it for cooking, while some have given up and started using electric stoves and other items. “Most of the time we prepare breakfast tea in the microwave,” said, Latif Jamal, a shopkeeper.

A few people also said that if they plan to have lunch at a close friend or relative’s house, the first question they ask is if the host has steady gas supply and pressure. If the host replies in the affirmative, people take along food items and ask to use the host’s kitchen to prepare their own dinner before leaving.

People were also worried that if they cannot heat their houses in winter children and elderly residents may unnecessarily fall sick.

They said they have taken up the issue with the supplier many times, only to get apathetic responses. Gas pressure also perturbed nanbais and bakery owners, whose businesses depend on gas.

Recently, gas consumers were given a few days of relief by the federal government when it decided to suspend supply to CNG stations, but the Islamabad High Court partially overturned the decision and ordered the government to supply gas to CNG stations for at least two-days-a-week.

A senior Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) official, requesting not to be named, said that hundreds of complaints of low gas pressure are being received in the Pothar region, but SNGPL is continuously supplying gas to CNG stations due to legal requirements. Despite repeated attempts, SNGPL Potohar Region General Manager Ijaz Chaudhry could not be approached.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2013.