Thousands of residents living near the capital's Titas Road have been left in constant fear of fatal accidents due to a gas line leak, which has filled the East Rampura, Bank Colony, and Banasree residential areas with an odor of gas.
According to the locals, a gas line belonging to the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited has been damaged for more than a year, but the authorities have not taken any steps to repair it.
The gas leakage is located somewhere in the middle of the Goni Mosque and the under-construction Police Park building in Banasree. The gas is continuously being released from there, and the odor reportedly becomes more intense during the night.
After visiting the place, it was seen that water from a drain was consistently bubbling up, and it was accompanied by a strong smell.
The residents claimed that the bubbling was the result of the gas leak, and the odor is that of gas.
Officials from Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited have also acknowledged the existence of a gas leak in the transmission line at that site.
The locals mentioned at first that they had informed the Titas Gas authorities through the National Emergency Service 999.
The duty officer from the company called and assured the locals that the matter would be resolved quickly through due process.
Even though a team from Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited visited the site a few months after the incident, the repair work for the gas leak has yet to begin.
In this regard, the residents have expressed dissatisfaction as the repair process was not been carried out promptly.
“Several deadline explosions have taken place in Dhaka in the last few months. And most of them were due to gas leakage. Hence, we spend our days in extreme fear,” said a local building owner Abdul Malek.
Dhaka Tribune“This is a very sensitive issue, and the slow steps taken by the authorities are unfortunate. The matter should have been treated as an emergency,” he added.
Malek also noted that the road is one of the busiest in Dhaka. There are several residential buildings, shops, and thousands of people travel by that road as well.
A worker named Kaosar expressed his anger and said: "A major accident will happen, people will die, then they will form a probe committee -- it has become a rule. If an accident does not happen, we will not get any solution to this.”
In this regard, Titasbag Kollan Somity General Secretary Abdul Quader told the Dhaka Tribune: "The residents here and the people traveling on this road are very worried. Titas gas company has assured us to resolve the issue. But we are very unhappy that it is taking so long. We want the matter to be resolved quickly before a major accident happens.”
When contacted Engineer Shakhawat Hossain, deputy general manager of the Emergency Gas Control Department of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, said that the matter is under process.
“System Operations Department has been asked to look into the matter for leakage repair,” he added.
Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited's System Operation Department Deputy General Manager Engineer Md Siddiqur Rahman told Dhaka Tribune: "We visited the area last Thursday night as well. I hope to start work in a day or two. There is also a WASA line at the location where the leakage appeared, so we may also need the assistance of other agencies to do the work.”
In response to the question of how dangerous this type of gas leakage is, he said: "Actually, any type of gas leakage is dangerous. We are trying to resolve the issue as soon as possible."
