Dhaka, Sep 18 (IANS) As Bangladesh grapples with an acute gas crisis, residents across several areas of Dhaka have endured shortages for the past two to three months, forcing them to incur additional expenses to cook food, heat water and meet other basic household needs, local media reported on Friday.
The prolonged crisis has raised concerns among consumers about who will compensate them for the added financial burden even as they pay their monthly gas bills while receiving little or no gas.
For many households across parts of Dhaka, the prolonged gas shortage has brought mounting expenses alongside daily cooking difficulties. Families are paying their monthly gas bills despite receiving little or no supply, while spending more on electricity, LPG, meals from restaurants, and other alternatives to cope with the shortage, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Residents of Dhanmondi said they had received no gas for two months, although they continue to pay their monthly bills to Titas Gas, the state-owned natural gas distributor in Bangladesh
In Lalbagh, housewife Faria Ahmed Borsha said her family received virtually no gas for three to four months but continued to pay Bangladeshi taka (Tk)1,080 every month to Titas Gas.
Similar experiences have become routine across several parts of Dhaka, where households rely on alternatives to meet their everyday needs while continuing to pay for an unavailable gas service.
The household crisis comes against a backdrop of a wider national gas shortage, with daily demand at around 380 crore cubic feet against a supply of about 265-270 crore cubic feet, according to Petrobangla figures cited by relevant sources, Dhaka Tribune reported
The gas shortage in Bangladesh intensified following a July 21 fire that damaged electrical systems at Excelerate Energy’s floating LNG terminal in Moheshkhali, affecting around 450 million cubic feet per day of supply.
Reports indicated that the disruption cut national grid supply by around 450 million cubic feet per day. Although partial supply was later restored, the disruption added to shortages affecting households, industries and power generation.
Consumers continue to bear the brunt of the crisis, with Titas warning that extremely low gas pressure would persist across its distribution network until LNG supplies improve.
According to experts, the country’s gas crisis has no immediate remedy, though expanding domestic gas production could provide some relief.
The shortages are meanwhile affecting industries heavily reliant on gas supply, particularly textile, knitwear, dyeing and finishing factories. Some have stopped production altogether, while others are operating below their normal capacity.
SM Nazer Hossain, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), told Dhaka Tribune that consumers should not be required to pay the full bill when the service they are promised is not being delivered.
“The government has committed to providing uninterrupted gas connections. But you are not providing that service. Then why should you collect the full bill?” he said.
Highlighting that the additional expenses were particularly burdensome for salaried people, whose incomes do not increase regularly, Nazer said, “There should be a specific plan from the government to deal with the fuel crisis. But we do not see any such specific plan from the government. We have never seen one.”
–IANS
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