Cooking at homes have become a tough task due to gas crisis in different parts of Bangladesh including Dhaka.
Gas shortage has occurred in almost all areas of the capital Dhaka. The crisis has intensified over the past few days.
Due to low pressure of gas, stoves burn dimly in households. In Dhaka's most areas, residents are complaining that the gas supply is turned off and the issue persists for almost the entire day.
Those area who has some minimal gas pressure in the day, the low intensity of the flames makes cooking impossible.
Therefore, many households are doing their cooking late at night or early in the morning, while others are forced to by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders despite having gas connections. This increases the spending as well as people are forced to pay for LPG cylinders and pay gas bill.
Not only household but the business has been hit hard as well.
Jamal Hossain from Rajabazar, a businessman who runs a tea shop, said he used to make tea using the gas stove. But now he is forced to use cylinders as gas supply goes off in the morning. Sometimes he stops selling tea when the cylinder gas runs out.
Similar complaints were made by the residents of Khilgaon, Basabo, Maniknagar, several areas of Old Dhaka, Ulan of Rampura, Wapda, Madhubagh and other areas.
According to Titas sources, due to the lack of gas supply compared to the demand, not only Dhaka, but also the surrounding areas of Savar, Gazipur, Ashulia, Narayanganj and Munshiganj are facing low gas pressure. As a result, the production of the industrial factories in these areas is also disrupted.
The demand for gas in the country is 4000 million cubic feet per day, against which the authorities can only provide 2600 million cubic feet. There is a daily shortage of about 1,400 million cubic feet of gas.
It is reported that an average of 421 million cubic feet of LNG is now being supplied. The rest comes from domestic mines.
It has been known that this crisis will be difficult to overcome until LNG is imported.
Petrobangla officials say the government decided to stop buying LNG from the spot market, which is why the gas crisis is worse this year. As long as LNG is imported from the spot market, the crisis is unlikely to abate.
Titas Director (Operation) Md Selim Miah said Dhaka has a demand about 1800 million cubic feet of gas. Out of this, Titas is able to provide about 1500 million. The city has a shortage of about 300 million cubic feet of gas.
In addition, as the pressure drops due to low temperature, the supply of gas to the customer at the very end of the pipeline is often low, he added.
