Double blow for port city residents
Sunil Barua, a resident of Askar Dighir Par area of Chattogram city, recharged Tk 1,000 to his pre-paid gas meter on Sunday.
To his surprise, instead of usual 50 units of gas for the amount, he received 44 units worth Tk 800 while Tk 200 was deducted as meter rent.
"The rent got hiked all of a sudden. I didn't know about it. We are already struggling amid price hikes of essentials amid high inflation. And now, they doubled the pre-paid gas meter rent," he said.
"We have been suffering from gas crisis for three months. Instead of solving the problems, they went on to hike pre-paid meter rent. It's outrageous!" said Shahena Akter, a resident of Jamal Khan area.
The Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited, which receives gas from the national grid and then supplies to port city, doubled the pre-paid meter rent in January without prior announcement.
We have been suffering from gas crisis for three months. Instead of solving the problems, they went on to hike pre-paid meter rent. It's outrageous!
Of the around 5,95,000 residential clients of KGDCL at present, pre-paid meters are availed by 62,000 since the inception of the service in the city in 2017, said Engr Nahid Alam, deputy general manager (IT and pre-paid metering division) at KGDCL.
A new project has begun from January 16 to bring one lakh new clients under pre-paid meter service, he said.
The pre-paid meter rent was initially Tk 60 per month, before it was increased to Tk 100 in July 2022, he added.
Just one and half years later, the rent jumped to Tk 200.
"It wasn't our decision. We are simply implementing a directive by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to the country's six gas marketing companies under Petrobangla to charge same rent for pre-paid meters," said Anupam Dutta, deputy general manager (marketing) at KGDCL.
To implement the directive, the KGDCL authorities fixed the rent at Tk 200 like the five other companies. Earlier, different companies under Petrobangla were charging different rents, he added.
Asked why the decision was implemented without any prior notice, he said a notice was hanged at KGDCL office in this regard.
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