Gas supply suspension irks hoteliers

PESHAWAR: The hoteliers are facing immense hardships as the gas supply, suspended to Shuba bazaar in the provincial capital, could not be restored despite a lapse of over one and a half months.

The gas supply to the commercial market, which hosts various hotels, teashops, nanbais and shops of auto mechanics, was suspended because of damage to the gas pipeline in Shuba in Ramazan.

The damage to the pipeline by the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) crew resulted in suspension of the gas supply to the market.

Redi Gul, the owner of a hotel in Shuba bazaar, said that the BRT crew had earlier damaged the gas pipeline near a mosque in the market. He said that later they filed a complaint with the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), which repaired the damaged portion. But he said that after a few days, the BRT workers again damaged the pipeline in front of his shop on the third day of Ramazan and it could not be repaired even after the passage of more than one and a half months.

“We made several complaints to the SNGPL and requested repair of the pipeline but to no avail,” he lamented.

He said that he was forced to turn to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to run his business and cook food for his customers. “We fill the compressed natural gas (CNG) kit with Rs500 daily to cook food for consumers,” he informed.

He said that development work on the BRT has already affected their businesses and income as the number of consumers visiting his and other shops in the locality has recorded a significant decline due to the ongoing work on the project.

“The developing company has dug up the entire road in the market for construction of elevated pillars of BRT and consumers are avoiding to visit the bazaar,” he said.

The shopkeepers said the BRT crew have also damaged the landline telephone numbers in the market.

“People earlier used to place orders on the hotel’s telephone numbers. We cannot receive orders due to suspension of telephone services for the past several months,” he added.

Khalid Mohmand, the president of hotels and restaurants association at Shuba market, said that the hoteliers and owners of other shops were faced with gas suspension issues since the start of the construction work on BRT but the situation has gone from bad to worse in the past three months.

“The damage to the gas pipeline and suspension of the utility has caused huge losses to the hoteliers,” he added.

He said that they were indented heavily due to the BRT and suspension of gas supply on regular intervals. “I buy up to Rs2,100 LPG daily for the past few months. We cannot make profit and suffer losses,” he added.

He said that he and other hoteliers were paying the utility bills regularly despite the fact that the gas supply to their eateries has been suspended for months.

When contacted, the spokesperson for SNGPL Shah Faisal expressed ignorance about whether the gas pipeline was damaged by BRT crew or the utility supply was suspended to the area.

“No-one filed a complaint to us about any damage caused to the gas pipeline or gas supply suspension to Shuba bazaar,” he added.

He said that the SNGPL teams responded quickly to repair any damage caused to the gas pipelines and try to repair the damaged portion in the minimum possible time.