The people of Araihazar and Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj district have been given new gas connections to their households. These connections have been granted by local leaders without proper authorisation.
These illegal connections have created panic for households. Many of them have been waiting a month for gas supplies to their pipeline, but there is no gas in the pipes yet.
Though the gas pipeline has been mostly completed, households have reportedly paid Tk25,000 for a single connection.
Over 10,000 new connections are allocated for Araihazar and same number has been made available for Rupganj. Overall, 20,000 new connections are currently waiting for gas supplies which are totally unauthorised.
This is a political mission to collect huge amounts of money before the upcoming elections, and the leaders have gotten Tk300m through this improper project.
People are selling their cattle or leasing their land to obtain new gas connections thinking about this prosperous life. Women especially are very happy because they will have an opportunity to do away with old-fashioned cooking methods.
They could feel like they have a better life when they compare themselves to city-dwellers. That’s why they have no hesitation for selling cattle or a piece of land.
However, Titas was totally ignorant about all these connections. When this writer asked a high official of Titas, he was just surprised. He didn’t agree to make any comments regarding this query.
On the other hand, local leaders are more confident. They say there is nothing wrong. Though initially it is illegal, there is a chance to get legal status shortly by paying extra money.
This is nothing new: wrongdoings took place earlier when 87,000 unauthorised gas connections were identified by the Petrobangla probe committee during an embargo period.
Petrobangla claimed that two influential persons were involved in this occurrence, one was a former top official of Titas and the other was a powerful lawmaker of the ruling party who is also a member of the standing committee on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral resources.
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) also found them guilty and filed a case which is in progress.
From June 2010 to June this year, the government was prohibited from creating new gas connections to the households for industrial productions. But some influential people violated the government’s decision: they were playing proactive roles to provide new connections in the prohibited period and earned huge amounts of money that way.
The authority still didn’t take any legal action against them.
A small amount is allotted for households. The people who applied earlier can now have access for new connections.
Petrobangla further declared that no new applications can be allowed for gas connections.
However, 87,000 illegal connections have gotten provisions to produce legal statuses for paying extra money. Otherwise, illegal users could be penalised either for their connections, which would be disconnected, or legal action would be taken.
Titas doesn’t care about Petrobangla obligations. Usually illicit connections are simply a way of earning for a Titas employee. From top to bottom, most of them know how to make illegal money through wrongdoings. They are very much aware about their dishonesty in this matter.
The Titas governing body hasn’t taken any punitive actions against the corrupt people. It is because most of the corrupt people are in a CBA (collective bargaining agency) and they have strong political back-up.
It is a sad matter that the CBA is not in the right place. They are working as a protective umbrella for corrupt people.
The people who paid money for gas connections have the right to get them without any delay. If there is any guilty party, legal action can be taken against the occupied influentials, but not against the common people.