Various localities without gas supply for over a week

LAHORE: Thousands of families residing along Civil Secretariat have been living without natural gas supply for a week now, creating extreme hardship for them.

A severe gas crisis has hit old localities of Sant Nagar, Krishan Nagar, Dev Smaj Road, Mongia Street, Hota Singh Road, Outfall Road, Corporation Chowk and many adjacent areas. Without having cooking gas for over a week, you can well imagine life of a family, said a dejected consumer of SNGPL.

Housewives Afshan and Rubina were seemingly distressed over failure in uninterrupted gas supply to their homes. People are forced to use costly woods, coal and LPG in the absence of gas supply, they bemoaned.

Other residents, including Mirza Saleem, Farhan, Farrukh, Naveed and Kashif were infuriated over prolonged suspension in gas supply to the entire area.

Commenting on the situation, an official of Sui Northern said gas supply to the area has been affected due to water in the gas distribution pipes. He said that a team has been deployed to resolve the issue, however, he added, the cleaning of pipes is a cumbersome process and may take some time. He continued to say that water suction in gas pipelines had been a growing problem as people illegally use compressors for increasing flow of gas, which is also a dangerous act. The official said that provision of gas to domestic consumers during cooking times in the morning and evening is being ensured, asking them to be patient and refrain from using any illegal device for enhancing pressure.

However, people of the area denied that illegal practice of installation of gas compressors had been rife in their area. They were of the view that if at all anyone uses compressor, SNGPL should apprehend them and disconnect their connection. Why we are braving collective punishment for the crime committed by others, they opined.