The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Gas and electricity supply to almost half of the Dhaka city and its outskirts have remained partially suspended from midnight last night for a major repair work on the main gas-transmission line at Daudkandi in Comilla, shutting down kitchens in thousands of households, disrupting industrial production and closing two major power plants.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL), a company of Petrobangla, said the normal supply of gas would be more or less disrupted for 48 hours from Saturday midnight to Monday midnight because of a repair work in the 20-inch diameter BKB-Demra High-Pressure Gas Pipeline under the national grid at Shahidnagar, Daudkandi in Comilla. This pipeline is one of the major sources of gas supply to the capital.

The TGTDCL sources said production in three gas-based power plants would remain suspended during the period due to suspension of gas supply, causing further load shedding and plunging vast areas into darkness.

Load shedding in the capital and elsewhere in the country would increase during the period as power generation would fall by around 600 megawatt, said an official of Power Development Board.

'For the temporary closure of gas supply, about half of the capital city, particularly the southeastern part, will be directly affected as people of the area will have to use alternative sources of energy for cooking and other purposes', a Titas Gas official said.

The gas-based industries will also be affected by the supply disruption.

Besides, treatment and major operations at both Mitford Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital are likely to be affected for the suspension of gas and electricity supply for two days.

Major instruments as well as operation theatres at the DMCH and Mitford Hospital depend on the supply of electricity. Besides, food of some 2,000 patients is cooked at the DMCH everyday.

Sohrab Uddin Khan, administrative officer of the DMCH, said they did not get any such notice from the TGTDCL authorities. He also did not know whether the DMCH was kept out of the

On the other hand, Dr Md Belayet Hossain, assistant director of Mitford Hospital, said they held talks with the Titas Gas authorities about the issue. "The Titas Gas authorities have assured us to maintain normal flow of gas supply to Mitford Hospital," he said.

The affected areas include Demra, Shyampur, Postagola, Jurain, Dhalpur, Bibirbagicha, Jatrabari, Fatullah, Keraniganj, Sutrapur, Kotwali, Lalbagh, Hazaribagh, New Market, Shahbagh, Motijheel, Gopibagh, Kamlapur, Khilgaon, Basabo, Shahjahanpur, Nayatola, Madhubagh, Shantinagar, Siddheswari, Badda, Rampura, Ulan, Paltan, Ramna, Sabujbagh, Khilgaon, Tejgaon Industrial Area, areas under Gulshan, Badda and adjoining areas, Mohakhali, Wari, Gendaria, Nawabpur, Sadarghat, Sutrapur, Banglabazar, Bakshibazar, Islampur, Hazaribagh and Azimpur.

Apart from the city areas, gas supply in some adjoining areas, including Sonargaon, Meghnaghat and Rupganj in Narayanganj, Gazaria in Munshiganj, Daudkandi, Homna and Titas in Commilla, and Banchharampur and Kachua in Chandpur remains remain suspended.

Besides, at least two power plants will have to suspend their operation for two days due to the suspension of gas supply, official sources said.

The power plants, located in Narayanganj, are state-owned Power Development Board (PDB)'s 50-megawatt Haripur Power Plant and the independent power producer (IPP)'s 100-megawatt NEPC power Plant.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company and Bakhrabad gas company will jointly conduct the repairing works on the 20-inch diameter Bakhrabad-Demra gas transmission line.

Titas gas officials said Dhaka city gets gas supply from four transmission sources: Demra, Joydevpur, Ashulia and Elenga.

Titas Managing Director M Abdullah said that his organisation was trying to arrange alternative system to keep the supply normal in the city. But until now it's not certain.

"Since this is a major repair, so we have alerted people about the non-supply of gas during the repairing work," he said.

He said the capital city normally consumes 220 million cubic feet (mmcf) gas per day. About 100mmcfd gas comes through the Bakhrabad-Demra line.

He noted that he is hopeful that the gas supply would be restored by tomorrow (Monday) midnight and then the consumers would get supply as usual.

Sources said the Titas gas company decided to do the repair as the country's largest power plant-450-MW Meghnaghat plant, which gets supply from Bakhrabad-Demra line--is now under overhauling.

Learning suspension in gas supply for as many as 48 hours, many city dwellers became scared yesterday. They became worried thinking how they would pass the most difficult 48 hours without gas and electricity at a time when a mild cold wave is sweeping across the country, including the capital. Finding no other alternatives, many of them were found rushing to the markets to buy kerosene stoves and firewood. Taking advantage of the situation, dishonest traders raised the prices of kerosene and kerosene stoves.

Many of the residents in the capital also left for the houses of their relatives and friends yesterday as gas supply would remain suspended for two days.