During the last one month, queues outside Dhaka's CNG filling stations are stretching longer by the day, leading to mounting frustration among drivers.
With the temperature on rise, the government is diverting more gas to power plants to meet the increased demand for electricity, leading to reduced gas allocation for commercial and industrial consumers, reports bdnews24.com.
A recent visit to areas like Dhaka's Mogbazar, Mohakhali and Rampura revealed hundreds of vehicles are waiting outside the CNG stations. Even with compressors running, the stations are receiving less than half the gas they need. As a result, many customers are often leaving with only half-filled cylinders even after waiting for long.
The issue is forcing the drivers - especially those who operate auto-rickshaws and rental cars - to line up multiple times a day for refuelling, taking up valuable time and, in turn, hurting their livelihoods.
"There's a severe gas crisis now. We wait for hours at the filling stations. My vehicle can usually hold gas worth Tk 300 in the tank. But now I leave with gas worth only Tk 100-120. It's a real struggle," said Ruhul Amin, a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw driver.
"I operate under a half-day contract. Refuelling alone takes two to three hours. With gas worth Tk 120, I can drive for only four to five hours. If I could fully fill the tank once, I could drive all day," he noted.
Another auto-rickshaw driver, Abdur Rob Mia, said: "I work half-day shifts. If I have to refuel two or three times a day, when will I find time to pick up passengers? There's no profit now. The situation has worsened after the Eid."
A staff member, managing queues at Hajipara CNG Station in Rampura area, said, "The queue stretches half a kilometre. Yet, many vehicles still have to leave without gas. There's nothing we can do. The gas pressure is very low."
Station engineer Sajal Mridha said, "The gas inlet pressure should be around 70-80 psi, but during the day it drops to 20-25 psi. At night, sometimes it goes up to 70-80 psi again. The only other time the pressure is at a normal level is on the Fridays. That's the basic reason behind the present suffering."
"Both the customers and station operators are suffering loss. Someone expecting gas worth Tk 300 is getting only gas worth Tk 60-100. Our workload has increased, but sales have dropped. Where once we sold gas worth around Tk 3.0 million, it's now down to around Tk 1.5 million," he added.
A Petrobangla official said the government has increased gas supply to the power plants due to the surge in electricity demand during summer, leading to cuts in gas supply to the industries and commercial connections like CNG stations.
Energy Advisor Fouzul Kabir Khan said, "An interim government is naturally for a short term. Solving long-standing crises like this isn't possible for us. Even if two gas-fields are discovered today, it would take at least two years to extract gas from those. For now, we are trying to ration gas where it's needed most."
According to Petrobangla's report on April 27, daily gas supply in the country dropped to 2,700 million cubic feet, while daily demand stands between 3,700-4,000 million cubic feet.
