Many residential areas of the city continue to face severe hardships due to substantial decline in the gas pressure during the harsh winter season. The densely populated areas of Dhoke Kala Khan, Sadiqabad and Dhoke Babu Irfan have been the worst-hit by gas load-shedding, where the size of stove flames have been reduced to negligible. These areas are surrounded by several CNG stations. During a survey of the said areas, Pakistan Today observed that there were six CNG stations around Dhoke Babu Irfan, 12 around Sadiqabad and three around Dhoke Kala Khan. The low gas pressure in these areas have brought the lives of the people to the stone age as they have been forced to burn wood on their roofs for cooking.
“We can not even prepare tea on these flames, we use wood and kerosene oil for cooking meals and tea,” said Ishrat, a resident of Sadiqabad. Low gas pressure usually takes its toll after 9:00 am and in most areas, the situation persists till 11:00 pm.
“Owing to low gas pressure, our children go to school without having breakfast. It has made our life miserable but our rulers are engaged only in talking about democracy,” said Naseem, a mother of four, who uses wood for fire.
Another housewife, Shakeela, said that women had to wait for hours to cook one dish due to thin flame. Many people have been forced to purchase cooked food from bakeries and hotels, disturbing their monthly household budgets.
“We are forced to burn fire wood and use kerosene oil to provide breakfast to our school-going children. The wood is being sold at exorbitant rates and buying wood on daily basis at such high prices consumes a large proportion of my budget,” said Asghar Hussain, a low-paid government employee.
During the survey of the area, it was noticed that the CNG stations situated close by were the cause of low gas pressure at homes. When these CNG stations remain closed, the gas pressure returns to normal.
The residents of the area complained that due to low gas pressure, geysers could not work effectively, making them useless in the cold weather, when taking bath had become a major problem for the people.
Last year too, the consistent low gas pressures and frequent gas outages had posed serious problems for the people, who were unable to cook and properly heat their homes during the cold weather. However, it appears that the government did not learn any lesson from the last year’s failure.
To cope with the chilly weather, people are using various sources of energy, including firewood, gas cylinders and coal. “We have to use wood and gas cylinders to meet our needs but how long would we afford it? It is a high time for the government to pay heed to our problems,” said Rafiq Khan, expressing the area residents’ demand from the government to resolve their issue.
