12-hr gas supply suspension in city tomorrow

After experiencing a gas crisis for around 26 hours, the city dwellers are likely to see another suspension of gas supply for 12 hours, starting from tomorrow evening.

This is because the authorities concerned will shift pipelines to facilitate the construction work of the metro rail project. The relocation will disrupt the gas supply from 6:00pm Tuesday until 6:00am Wednesday.

During the period, there will be no gas supply in Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Jhigatola, Rampura, Bonosri, and Old Dhaka, said Md Kamruzzaman Khan, director (operation) of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL).

"Some other areas of the city may experience a low gas pressure as well," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Earlier on Saturday, gas supply to tens of thousands of households, factories and other establishments in the capital and its adjoining areas came to a complete or partial halt because of a technical glitch at Ashulia gas station of the state-run Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL),

which carries natural gas to the national grid.

The sudden outage of gas inflicted untold sufferings on the city dwellers who woke up to the disruption, as there was no prior announcement from the state-run utility company.

"The gas supply resumed at 10:30am on Sunday," said Engineer Md Enamul Huq, manager (Emergency Gas Control Centre - North) of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd.

Kamruzzaman said, "We could not notify the customers about it beforehand because it took us past midnight on Friday to make preparations for the repair work."

"We communicated with the customers on Saturday morning."

Titas Gas used TV scrolls and text messages to notify the customers about the disruption.

A valve went out of order at the Ashulia gas station of the GTCL, resulting in the disruption. The GTCL fixed the problem by replacing the valve.

Clients in Ashulia, Savar, Aminbazar, Gabtoli, Mirpur, Paikpara, Pirerbagh, Kalyanpur, Shyamoli, Ring Road, Mansurabad, Kadirabad, Mohammadpur, Lalmatia, Dhanmondi, Azimpur and Hazaribagh suffered seriously due to the crisis.