Gas shortage continues to paralyse life in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The lives of the residents of Peshawar have been paralysed due to gas loadshedding and its low pressure for the last so many days.

Ahmed Ali, a resident of Warsak Road, said the officials of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGP) caused sufferings to the people in winter while the Peshawar Electric Supply Company did the same in summer.

"We don't know where we should go to avail the facilities offered by the state?" he questioned. Muhammad Idrees, a college teacher residing in Yakatoot locality, said his family members were facing tremendous problems due to low pressure and loadshedding of the gas.

"Whether you believe it or not, my children go for school and college without taking breakfast as there is no gas supply in the morning from 6am to 10am," he complained. He said the citizens paid the gas utility bills without fail and but the SNGPL officials were carrying out gas loadshedding.

Narrating his ordeal, Qamar Ali, a clerk in a government department, living in the Firdous locality, said the gas low pressure and loadshedding had made life miserable for the citizens.

"We don't keep firewood as an alternative at home to meet the kitchen requirements. I have recently shifted my family to Peshawar to avail better facilities than that of my village," he said, adding he would not have made this mistake had he had prior knowledge of the gas crisis.

Sajjad Khan, a student at the University of Peshawar, said the government had failed to come up to the expectations of the people. "Instead of initiating work on the mega project of Bus Rapid Transit, the government should have focused on the issue of gas supply which has troubled the citizens in this chilly weather," he said.

He said that the fault was not with the incumbent government but all the previous governments had not bothered to pay attention to this core issue. Muslim Khan, a naanbai in Saddar, said his business had been adversely affected due to low pressure of the gas, adding, the buyers complained about the half-backed bread (roti).

The residents of Pajaggi village on the outskirts of the provincial capital also faced the issue of gas shortage and its low pressure. "We find it difficult to prepare food owing to the shortage of gas throughout the day," Yasin Khan said.

Another villager said that the people were suffering but the government seemed least bothered to take corrective steps to mitigate the problems of the masses.