Aleya, a resident of Jhauchor area of Dhaka’s Kamrangirchar, cooks in a makeshift kitchen on the street adjacent to her home. Unable to cook in her own kitchen for the last two weeks, the homemaker has resorted to a wood-fired stove as gas supply remains suspended in her area.
“My kitchen does not have space for a wood stove to be installed and such stoves emit a lot of black fumes that leave the entire kitchen grimy. So now we’re cooking under the open sky because we have to eat,” Aleya told Dhaka Tribune.
Like Aleya, thousands of people living in Kamrangirchar are struggling as the state-run gas regulatory company Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited has cut off supply to wards No 55,56 and 57 of the area.
Titas claims that supply has been cut off in a bid to collect Tk84 crore in arrears from the residents. On the other hand, residents claim that they are having to suffer due to a syndicate that moderates illegal gas connections.
Nearly 200,000 people live in the three wards, where there are only 13,000 legal gas connections. The rest are illegal.
Locals say that the illegal connections are moderated by a small syndicate of powerful people including Titas employees.
Condemning the national gas supplier’s move, locals complained that Titas was not taking action against illegal connection providers but making legal customers bear the brunt of the problem.
LPG, firewood - alternative to gas
Kamrangirchar residents, for the first few days, depended on take-outs or relatives from different areas for food. However, given that the crisis is likely to continue for a long time, they have now turned to either LPG cylinders or wood-fired stoves. But for many the cost is more than double than what they had to pay earlier.
Jamal Ahmed was paying Tk975 per month when he used a regular gas supply. However, now he pays around Tk2,300 for 12 litres of LPG.
“This increase in cost is unbearable and unacceptable,” said Jamal, whose building has had a legal connection since being built in 2006.
Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune“Even my bill for the months of June-July is fully paid. But still, I and my family are suffering because of the incapability of Titas to capture and control illegal gas connections,” he added.
While Jamal is able to afford a cylinder, many for whom cylinder prices are steep rely on wood-fired stoves.
Recent demand has also led to a price hike for wood which, up until a week ago, cost Tk10 per kilogram. However, now per kilogram of wood costs Tk25.
To prepare a meal, a family of four needs at least 10kgs of wood, meaning that they are having to spend Tk250 per day for fuel and spend around eight hours a day cooking.
Titas continues to snip illegal gas connections
Meanwhile, Titas has already started cutting off illegal gas connections beneath the ground. On Monday, workers were seen cutting gas pipes in the presence of magistrate Irtiza Hasan and Titas officials.
The drive that started at Jhauchor will continue throughout Kamrangirchar until all illegal connections are uprooted.
Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka TribuneTitas Dhanmondi zone Deputy General Manager Nazibul Haque said that Titas could not say for certain when the gas supply would resume until the arrears were fully paid and illegal connections were completely cut off.
On Monday, Titas snapped two main source points and a good number of collection lines in different locations which have separated into around 2500 stove connections. It also cut off gas connections to 30 big and small factories.
Mohammad Hossain, councilor of ward No 56 in Dhaka South City Corporation, said locals had welcomed this drive.
“Most of the people of this area are not complicit in these illegal connections,” he said.
He added that while the drive was welcome, as mostly criminals were involved in the matter, gas supply should be restored.
