Gas supply disruption forces Dhaka dwellers to buy restaurant foods

Gas consumers of some parts of Dhaka city and outskirts have been experiencing disruption in gas supply since Saturday morning due to a technical glitch.

The disruption affected the residents of Kolabagan, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Shyamoli and Agargaon areas. Gas outage was also experienced in Manikgonj, Dhamrai, Savar, Aminbazar and Ashulia areas.

The residents of the affected areas, however, complained that they did not get any prior notice and it exacerbated their agony.

State-run gas supplying utility firm Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd made the announcement of the disruption on Saturday morning but many of the affected people were unaware about it.

The Titas officials said that a valve of the transmission station of Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) in Ashulia went out of order on Friday night and it led to the disruption.

“I found no gas connection in the morning and so I left home without taking breakfast. Had we given a prior notice, we could have prepared the food earlier,” said resident of Kaderabad Housing area of Mohammadpur Hossain Saddam.

A Dhanmondi resident, Parvin Sultana, also lamented getting no prior notification of gas outage.

“Authorities should have given us the information. It is not that tough in the age of technology. Normal life gets affected heavily when you don’t have the gas supply,” she said.

“I had to buy food from nearby restaurant but many of the restaurants ran out of supply as they too had no preparation for the situation”, Parvin added.

Media reports that residents of Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur areas were seen waiting in long queues in front of the restaurants for food.

Some were seen buying electronic cooking appliances such as electronic cooker, pressure cooker and others.

Morsalin Dinar, student of a university in Dhanmondi area said that thousands of students living in the area are most affected as many of them cannot afford to buy food items from expensive restaurants of the area.

According to the authorities the gas supply will be normalised once the maintenance work is complete.

Deputy director general of GTCL system department Shafiqul Islam said to Prothom Alo, “The valve went out of order yesterday (Friday). We are working to change the valve. It would take a whole day to fix it. Gas supply might be fully resumed tomorrow (Sunday).”