On the verge of an explosion

Panic spread among residents of Dhaka on Monday night as people from different parts of the city complained of gas leaks. The Fire Service and Civil Defence received over 100 phone calls about the leaks at various points, while some agitated residents also called 999 for help. The next day, Titas Gas, the country's biggest distributor of gas, released a statement saying people could smell the odorant that it mixes with natural gas due to high pressure in the gas pipelines. It added that gas supply in Dhaka had returned to normal, and people could resume lighting their gas stoves.

The Titas statement almost seems to have downplayed the legitimate concerns of citizens and experts alike regarding the possibility and danger of gas leaks. And taking it lightly is precisely what has led to a number of gas leak-related explosions in the past, which caused a significant loss of lives and hundreds of injuries.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited, and Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System Limited are three of the largest gas providers in Bangladesh. A report by Prothom Alo on March 5, 2021 revealed that most of the gas pipelines of Titas, Karnaphuli and Jalalabad are at least 30 years old, and that more than 500 leakages are reported in Dhaka every month, with most of these leakages occurring in a single part of the gas distribution line – the risers.

In a report by New Age on April 26, 2023, the Titas Gas managing director was quoted as saying that many gas distribution lines are now 40 years old and expired 10 years ago. And although Titas has sent a development project plan to the planning ministry to replace those pipes under a megaproject, until the plan gets approved and is fully executed, people are left on the edge of potential disasters just waiting to happen.

Fire incidents originating from gas leaks clearly seem to be on the rise. According to the Prothom Alo report, in 2018-19, there were 204 such incidents, which rose to 306 in 2019-20. In a survey conducted on a 1,682km pipeline in Dhaka in FY2021-22, Titas detected 985 leaks at 449 points. And although Titas officials claimed to have repaired those, Titas has 7,000km of lines in Dhaka alone and 2.857 million domestic connections across the country. According to experts, had Titas conducted a survey on the rest of the network, they would have found a lot more leaks. That means there are potentially a number of unidentified leaks out there, which poses serious risk to people at different locations across the country.

Surprisingly, the Titas Gas MD was quoted by this daily as refuting these concerns expressed by experts. He said that no gas pipeline in Dhaka is risky and there is no chance of explosion. But recent events make that hard to believe.

For example, the explosions in Science Lab and Gulistan, which killed at least 22 people and injured more than 150 others, are believed to have originated from accumulated gas, according to different government agencies. And in February, an RMG worker died and her husband and others were injured due to an explosion from a gas leakage in their home in Narayanganj's Fatullah. The explosion that took place at a mosque in Narayanganj, killing 34 people, also happened due to a leak in the gas pipeline. These events, along with many others, prove that this is not a non-existent threat.

Part of the problem, according to four high-ranking officials at Titas Gas, is that even if the company makes a profit, no technological upgrades are implemented to improve safety and service. Pipelines are not replaced even after they have expired, and renovations are done only after an accident takes place.

Another major concern is the lack of supervision or inspection of possible leaks in gas pipelines, even though it is compulsory to do so. Moreover, when some connections are permanently disconnected due to negligence, the gas supply is not always cut off. For example, police investigations into the June 2021 explosion at a building in Moghbazar, Dhaka revealed that the accident occurred due to gas accumulating from a disconnected Titas Gas pipeline.

Part of the problem, according to four high-ranking officials at Titas Gas, is that even if the company makes a profit, no technological upgrades are implemented to improve safety and service. Pipelines are not replaced even after they have expired, and renovations are done only after an accident takes place.

According to Section 5 of the Gas Sales Rule, 2014, Titas Gas must carry out inspections in the residential sector once every two years for clients without meters, and once every year for users with meters. But that is never done. And the same old excuse – lack of manpower – was given by two officials of Titas to justify the lack of inspection.

According to energy expert Shamsul Alam, it is not often that ordinary people can detect accumulated gas from leaks. But it is they who end up paying the ultimate price. Given the poor state of our gas pipelines in particular, the authorities should have an automated system in place to control the sudden rise of gas pressure. But Monday's scare proved that they do not have such a system in place.

What Monday's events and its aftermath also prove is that our gas distribution system has plenty of deadly faults, which have developed due to years of negligence by the authorities. The downplaying of citizens' concerns illustrates that the authorities wish to continue with their business-as-usual attitude and show no urgency in fixing them.

Whereas such attitude by our gas distribution companies should ignite an outrage among government high officials, nothing of that sort has happened, despite one accident after another taking place. The officers and employees of these organisations cannot be allowed to simply leave people in such a danger. And to ensure justice, murder charges should be filed against those responsible at these companies for gas leak-related accidents. Otherwise, people will be exposed to more such terrifying incidents or, even worse, a much bigger disaster than the ones we have already witnessed in recent years.

Eresh Omar Jamal is assistant editor at The Daily Star. His Twitter handle is @EreshOmarJamal