Anisul Islam Noor :
The illegal gas connections have created sufferings for registered consumers of Titas Gas Distribution Company.
The authority of Titas now emphasized to sever the illegal gas connections in order to restore the usual gas pressure in the gas distribution pipe lines.
Titas Savar gas distribution areas disconnected 10 thousand gas lines from five villages in Savar and Ashulia areas on Tuesday, said Engineer Siddiqur Rahman, Manager (Sale) of Savar.
Titas also seized riser and hundreds of metres of gas pipes at Rostampur, Mostapur, Sadhupara, Changaon and Saipara villages, he said.
However, genuine consumers of Titas become deprived of usual gas pressure at day and evening time as thousands of illegal consumers consumed most of gas. Illegal gas lines are active at the same time in different parts of Dhaka city and its adjacent areas, sources said.
In 2014, Titas found the existence of thousands of illegal gas connections in the populated area like Mothertake, Basabo, Old Dhaka, Badda, Muhammadpur, Mirpur, Tongi, Ashulia and Savar areas.
Talking with the reporter, many illegal gas consumers claimed that they took the gas line in exchange of Tk 30,000 to 40,000 with the help of brokers and gas office employees.
However, the housewives in the city’s different areas complained that they had to cook their family’s lunch and dinner at night. They try their best to finish cooking by midnight before going to bed since she has to go to work in the morning. Shahida Akter of Mirpur- 10 said, she wakes up long before sunrise to prepare breakfast for her three-member family as the gas supply stops around 7:00am. The supply in Shahida’s neighbourhood resumes after 3:00pm and ceases again at 7:00pm only to resume around 11:00pm.
Preparing food for her eight-month-old baby is tough, as the baby needs to be fed more frequently, she said.
Like Shahida, thousands of city dwellers are facing an acute crisis of gas this winter. The residents of Dhanmondi, Lalmatia, Sheorapara, Agargaon, Taltola, Pashchim Kafrul, Uttara, Gandaria, Ulan and Rampura have complained of either very low gas pressure or no gas supply at all for the better part of the day.
Although the supply of gas usually drops in winter, the crisis is worse this year. A drop in production, an increase in demand, faulty supply lines and illegal connections are the major reasons for this, according to officials concerned.
Seeking anonymity, an official said the city’s gas supply and distribution network is old and needs replacement. Leakages are affecting gas pressure and supply at many places.
“Besides, in recent times, some people are using home gas compressors to forcibly draw gas into their home burners. This means others are not getting whatever gas is available in the line, while many are being able to keep their stoves performing just fine,” the official said.
Another Titas official said they had ripped out 820km of illegal gas lines in different areas, including Narayanganj, Sonargaon, Narsingdi, Gazipur, Chandra, Tongi, Tangail, Manikganj and Savar, Kamrangirchar, Basila and Mohammadpur of Dhaka.
He said that they had disconnected 4.5 lakh illegal domestic gas connections during their drives between 2014 and November 2016.
