Gas shortage: Load-shedding for every season
Arun Bansi
ISLAMABAD: After queuing up hundreds of vehicles at CNG stations, gas
woes have slid into the homes of the twin cities. For the past few
weeks, domestic consumers have been experiencing gas load shedding of
up to six hours.
Sending children to school, preparing breakfast and going to work have
become an ordeal in the absence of heaters, geezers and stoves.
“It takes hours to cook food, there is no hot water anymore and some
of my friends haven’t showered in four days. It’s simply gross!” said
Gul, who lives in sector F6.
While in some areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, load shedding
persists for almost four to six hours, other areas have been exempted
from the plan.
Residents complained of the “discriminatory attitude” of authorities.
Naeem, who lives in sector G-6/4, said there was no gas for six hours
during the day. Other times, the pressure of gas was so low, “it was
as good as nothing.”
Similarly, the residents of Westridge, Sadiqabad and some parts of the
Cantonment area complained of frequent load shedding.
Businesses are also reeling from the affects of gas shortage. At Khiva
restaurant, business has gone down to 50%. “Every day we’ve had three
to four tables complaining that the food has not been properly
cooked,” said the manager.
A salesman at Abdullah Caterers said, “We are now using cylinders but
due to the added cost we’ve had to jack up our prices. As a result,
our sales have gone down.”
“Orders don’t get delivered on time,” complained the owner of Capital
caterers. “As a result, people either cancel or don’t make full
payments. There have been instances when orders worth half a million
or more have gone to waste because the food wasn’t cooked properly.”
To make matters worse, the price of LPG has also increased after
consumers had no choice but to rely on it in the wake of suspended gas
supply. “A few days back, we were filling gas at Rs125 per kg. Now it
has shot up to Rs150,” said Israr Khan, a resident of Bhara Kahu.
However, the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) decided on
Monday to restore gas supply to the textile industry and CNG sector
after closure for two days. General Manager Sales SNGPL Rehan Khan
claimed that there was no gas load shedding for domestic consumers.
“The gas pressure has become automatically low due to excessive use in
some areas. Such a situation leads to suspension of gas in others,” he
said.
The supply of gas according to officials stands at 2000 mmcfd against
a demand of 2600 mmcfd. Due to this shortfall, SNGL had to suspend gas
to CNG stations and industries for days to provide for the domestic
consumer. Khan said CNG owners should switch off their compressors
during peak ours for domestic users, like lunch and dinner time.
“Domestic users should also try to avoid using heaters and geezers,”
he added. Additional reporting by Momina Sibtain
Queues mark various stations
Despite opening of CNG stations after three days of forced closure,
motorists again faced problems at different stations due to low
pressure of gas.
Long queues were seen at different stations and many motorists could
not reach the filling point.
Most of the motorists were furious due to the government’s
“inefficiency and inadequate measures to deal with the situation.”
“I could not fill gas despite standing in the queue for hours,” said a
taxi driver Asim Khan. He said that it was a painful exercise as he
could not fill the gas even after three days.
Article Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/102055/gas-shortage-load-shedding-for-every-season/