Residents of some areas in Dhaka suffered from household gas supply disruption for nearly 24 hours till Tuesday.
There was no gas supply in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Kalabagan, Shyamoli, Agargaon, Dhanmondi, Hazaribagh and some other adjacent areas from Monday night.
Gas supply was partially restored in some areas while in some areas pressure was low till the filing of this report at 8pm.
Residents were found standing in queues before restaurants for food. Not all restaurants in the areas were in operation as they too were caught in the gas crisis.
The inconvenience was caused as a gas pipeline got damaged during development work carried out by the Roads and Highways Department in Savar’s Amin Bazar area at around 9pm on Monday.
Director (operations) of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, Shafiqul Islam Khan, said: “We started our repair work from 2am [on Tuesday]. We are trying to normalize gas supply through an alternative gas line arrangement from Tongi, another sub regional gas supply line.
"We cannot say how much time will be needed to repair the gas pipelines in Amin Bazar area. It may take till 11pm or midnight.”
Repair works underway after a gas pipeline got damaged during development works in Savar’s Amin Bazar on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 | Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune
About the overall situation he said: “We are already supplying gas through alternative lines on a limited basis. If the situation continues, we might use the alternative lines for supplying gas in full capacity.”
“We urge our customers to have patience until we fix the problem,” he added.
Residents of the areas said some of them used stocked gas cylinders to overcome the crisis. However, many families did not have any extra cylinders and had to fall back on restaurants.
Restaurant owners in Dhanmondi and Mirpur had to use gas cylinders to cook. As a result, the price of food shot up in those areas.
Asma Talukder of Hazaribagh and Jerin Mathasha of Shymoli said that they had bought food from outside at higher prices.
Mohsina Begum, a housewife in Mohammadpur, said that her family went out for lunch but there were huge crowds at the restaurants. “We bought some dry food and came back home instead.”
Akram Hossain of Tajmahal Road in Mohammadpur said stoves in the area ran on low heat from early morning but then stopped altogether after 10am.
