Staff Reporter :
A large area of the city has reportedly been left without any supply of gas during the peak hours in the morning with dip in temperature seriously affecting cooking in houses.
“Gas supply stops in the morning and resumes in the afternoon disrupting household tasks including cooking. The crisis has forced me to buy breakfast and lunch as I fail to cook in gas stoves,” Jesmine Khan, a resident in the city’s Sankar’s Jafrabad area, told The New Nation yesterday.
She said the crisis begins with the start of a day with no pressure of gas. The pressure appears after 3pm when my family completed lunch with foods from hotel. “Most residents of our area are not getting normal supply of gas round the year and the situation aggravated further since the arrival of winter,” she added.
Like Jesmine, thousands of residents of Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Jatrabari, Shewrapara, Kafrul, East Rajabazar, Mirpur, Pallabi, Kazipara, Taltola, Shyamoli, Khilgaon, Malibagh, Maniknagar, Uttara and Bashundhara Residential Area are facing same problem. “Pressure in the pipeline is currently too low to cook meals during the peak hours in the morning. I cannot cook anything for my family in the morning,” Shirin Akhtar, a resident of Maniknagar, told The New Nation.
She said, “I could turn on my gas burners in the afternoon when the supply restored. I had to depend on the food prepared in the evening. I have two kids. They’re not getting meals timely due to the crisis.
Shirin also said that her area has been being plagued by such gas crisis for the past two years, particularly during the winter.
Many of the sufferers said that they bought gas cylinders, kerosene stoves, electric rice-cookers and induction cooktops to cope with the current crisis.
“I have already bought gas cylinder to cope with the emergency situation. My wife used to prepare food using the cylinder gas,” Azmir Hossain, a resident of Malibagh area, told The New Nation
When asked, a Titas Gas official said, “Gas supply usually falls with the advent of winter. Besides, demand for piped gas increases during the season adversely affecting the city residents.”
“The gas consumption increases by 10 per cent during the winter leading to the crisis,” he added.
