Rawalpindi: The ‘corrupt mafia’ of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (Rawalpindi Region) was providing full-pressure gas to those who were giving them huge amounts as ‘bribes’ while on the other hand, common consumers faced zero gas pressure as stoves ran out of gas even in fine weather round the clock in majority of localities here on Sunday.
The poor public was buying expensive Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in ‘black’ at Rs300 per kilogram to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner, thanks to the caretaker cabinet and corrupt mafia of SNGPL.
There is no problem for bosses when people are deprived of even basic needs like drinking water, electricity, natural gas, etc. There is no problem when people buy kitchen items at skyrocketing prices and pay utility bills after selling out households. The consumers of affected areas are buying food from hotels at skyrocketing prices due to the absence of gas in stoves.
However, the caretaker government once again increased gas prices up to 193 per cent only to recover an additional Rs350 billion from poor consumers. The caretaker government has increased gas tariffs up to 172 per cent for domestic consumers, 137 per cent for commercial consumers, and 193 per cent for cement manufacturers. The caretaker government did not feel any kind of shame in giving approval of this increase, people belonging to all walks of life told ‘The News’ here on Sunday.
The tall claims by the concerned authorities for improvement in gas supply have dashed to the ground as there is absolutely no respite for the public from low to zero gas pressure even in fine weather conditions. Gas is not even available for cooking purposes and most of the households resort to old methods of burning wood, and coal or purchasing costly LPG from distributors.
The SNGPL officers in Rawalpindi had given the schedule of providing full-pressure gas to domestic consumers. According to the schedule, natural gas will be available from 6:00 am to 9:00 am in the morning, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm in the afternoon, and from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at night. But, the concerned authorities badly failed to implement their own schedule because gas vanished from all areas for over a week.
Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) Senior Officer Muhammad Faisal told ‘The News’ that he was sending teams to check gas pressure in several areas in Rawalpindi. “We have received several complaints against stoppage of gas supply in several areas,” he claimed.
But, not a single man of SNGPL visited any area to check the pressure of natural gas and as a result, consumers were buying expensive LPG to cook food.
The problem of gas shortage persists in almost every locality of Rawalpindi, including Adiala Road, Lalazar, Hill View Lane, Gorakhpur, Munawar Colony, Dhamial, Tench Bhata, People's Colony, Tahli Morri, Dheri Hassanabad, Harley Street, Dhoke Juma, Morgah, Kotha Kalaam, Chamanzar Colony, Tipu Road, Satellite Town, Asghar Mall, Saidpur Road, Sixth Road, Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Kamalabad, Mughalabad, Gulshanabad, Mubarak Lane, Al-Mumtaz Colony, Saleha Street, Kehkashan Colony, Kalyal, Jarahi and several other localities.
However, despite the hue and cry, the SNGPL authorities are not taking practical steps to mitigate the problems to provide relief to people.
On the other hand, there is no problem of gas shortage in posh localities. The gas problem is occurring in Rawalpindi despite the closure of CNG stations and the introduction of LNG.
Due to severe gas problems, people are experiencing multiple problems. Children arrive in schools without having breakfast, men go to their offices with empty stomachs and housewives face enormous pressure in this situation when their household chores remain incomplete and their monthly budget is disturbed by the added expenditure of buying LPG and food from hotels.
