Still no gas in many areas of Dhaka, Titas unsure when it will be fixed

Gas supply has not been restored in many areas of the capital on Wednesday after disruption started in Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Adabar, Kallyanpur, Mirpur 1, Green Road and Kalabagan areas of Dhaka on Tuesday morning.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (Titas Gas) said the citizens may still suffer due to a lack of gas all day. They do not know when the supply will be normal.

The gas supply was cut off as a pipeline was damaged in the Aminbazar area of ​​Savar yesterday morning. Leakage was then detected in the 12-inch pipeline. So, it was shut down and gas was supplied with the 16-inch pipeline at around 6.30 pm. But a large part of the capital is not getting gas yet.

Three officials of Titas told Prothom Alo that it has been difficult to repair the hole in the pipeline.

In the Salehpur Bridge area, 500 metres in front of Aminbazar, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has drilled a hole in the Titas pipeline while piling with sand. Now water is coming as soon as the sand is being removed with the excavator, they said.

There is a risk of a major accident if we try to fix the hole from underwater, the officials added.

At around 10 am today, a Titas official told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, "People call here to complain when they do not get gas at home. Complaints of not getting gas from different areas of the capital have been coming in for two days."

Top officials of gas suppliers said that the suffering of the people in the capital will increase. With leakage at one side of Dhaka and supply being cut off on the other, Titas is in trouble. They cannot assure people when the situation will be normal.

Titas Gas Managing Director Ali Iqbal Md Nurullah told Prothom Alo in the morning, "Work is ongoing to solve the Aminbazar problem. But that pipeline should not cause much of an issue in supply. Now the problem is, people living in Demra, Jatrabari are not getting gas supply."

Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) supplies gas to Titas. The managing director of the organisation Md Atiquzzaman told Prothom Alo, "Summit has cut off liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply due to technical faults. So now there is a daily decrease of 35 crore cubic feet of gas. Summit may resume supplying gas from 26 March."

A Titas official said, "Roads and Highways Department has been contacted. They have been requested to put geo-bags on both sides of the pipeline creating a temporary dam. RHD will start work today. Titas will then finish repairing the pipeline."