ost days, we don’t have gas for over 18 hours; we’d have it for an hour between 2-3 pm, and then the stoves would be off till 5 am [the next day],” says a discontented housewife in Gulberg, Lahore.

It’s not a local problem. The entire country has faced acute gas outages for the past couple of years. The natural gas reserves are said to have been depleted by 69 percent, and are expected to be exhausted by 2039. The widening gap between generation and demand of natural gas has led to only 22 percent of all households having access to the fuel. The National Power Control Centre recently announced a reduction in the demand for RLNG, stating that high gas pressure could potentially damage pipelines. The last we heard from Sui Northern Gas Company was in March this year when the gas schedule for Ramazan was announced. There have been no updates on recent outages.

“If we don’t know the [gas] schedule, we can’t plan our day properly,” says a visibly agitated Ali Raza, a bank employee, who lives on the Canal.

In winters, gas is used for many purposes such as warming the geysers for hot water and powering heaters, the summer use for natural gas is mostly restricted to cooking food. To quote Taqdees Imran, a resident of Model Town, “The only other alternative we have for cooking three meals a day is to get LPG cylinders. This isn’t just an expensive proposition but also a very dangerous one.”

It’s not a local problem. The entire country has faced acute gas outages for the past couple of years. The natural gas reserves are said to have been depleted by 69 percent. These are expected to be exhausted by 2039.

For people belonging to the upper economic strata, the gas outages aren’t a huge concern. They can always cook food on electric stoves and store it in refrigerators/ deep freezers for later use. Another alternative for them is to order stuff online or dine out. However, these options are not available to those belonging to the lower-middle class. Sabiha Rasool, a housemaid in Mughalpura, is worried about being able to feed her family of six, which includes two disabled members. “I’m away all day for work, and my husband can’t cook as he’s partially paralysed. I can only cook for them early in the morning before leaving for work, or after I am back. At both these times we are without gas.”

Shahid Asghar, a businessman, offers some solutions for the current crisis: “One way is to switch away from gas-powered appliances altogether. Electric geysers, electric stoves and heaters are available in the market. When you have solar panels for generating power, this is cost effective in the long run.” In Asghar’s view, the government could benefit from resuming diplomatic ties with Russia and Iran for the completion of their gas pipeline projects. “We should also reach out to international investors. They could look for untapped coal and gas in areas like Tharparkar. This may be the only way to to recover from this situation,” he adds.

Until the SNGPL releases another statement, and the schedule for gas load shedding is made public, the citizens must look for alternatives in order to survive this crisis.

The writer is a student whose articles are peppered across multiple sites