Acute gas crisis cripples Ctg life

An acute shortage of gas supply in many parts of the port city over the past week has been disrupting everyday life of the city residents.

Less than normal supply of gas from the national grid is causing this shortage, said officials at KGDCL (Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited).

The KGDCL is responsible for distribution of gas to the city after receiving it from the national grid.

The situation deteriorated in the Chittagong region recently as the KGDCL is now facing a shortage of at least 70 million metric standard cubic feet (MMCF) of gas each day, the KGDCL officials explained.

Moreover, the recent resumption of gas supply to Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) might have added fuel to the crisis, they said, adding that the supply to both households and industries have been affected since they started supplying gas to the CUFL on January 20.  

The areas that have been hit the hardest with the gas shortage are Kapasgola, Chawk Bazar, Bakalia, Nandan Kanan, Oxygen, Shulak Bahar, Bahaddarhat, Badurtala, Dewan Bazar, Chandanpura, Sub Area, Rahamatganj, Dewanji Pukur Par, Jamal Khan, Katalganj, Ghat Farhadbegh and Anderkilla.

While speaking with The Daily Star around 2:30pm yesterday, Nandan Kanan resident Rupa Dutta, a physician by profession, said the pressure of gas in her house has been too low for cooking lately. “I started cooking at 10 in the morning, but I still couldn't finish it. Usually it takes only an hour and a half for me to finish all my cooking.”

In many areas, the supply completely shuts down in the morning and it resumes for a maximum of two hours in the afternoon. The supply then stops again and remains that way throughout the evening till late at night when the gas flow returns to its normal stage.

“My wife cannot prepare breakfast for my school-going children as the supply of gas stops early in the morning,” said Alamgir Hossain, a resident of Bakalia area, “I haven't been able to take lunch from my house for over a week now.”

He has been feeding restaurant food to his family members, especially in the mornings, Alamgir said.

“The gas supply resumes around 3:00pm for nearly an hour when my wife starts cooking lunch for all. She has to do most of her cooking after 11:00pm when the supply becomes normal.”

Asked about the crisis, Anupam Dutta, manager (load monitoring) at KGDCL, admitted to have received complaints, from consumers living in different areas, regarding gas shortage in the mornings and in the evenings.

“In fact we cannot do anything at present to address the situation since the volume of gas we are receiving from the national grid is less than normal.”

“Currently we are getting 220 MMCF to 230 MMCF from the national grid,” as opposed to “our daily demand of 450 MMCF,” he said, adding that they usually receive around 300 MMCF daily.

When asked if they were able to take any measure to ease the situation, Anupam said last week they stopped gas supply to the gas-fired Raozan Thermal Power Plant to make up for the shortage, but it did not improve the situation to a noticeable extent.

In addition, they spoke with Petrobangla officials who had assured them of taking necessary measures to remedy the situation.