Millions in Savar, Ashulia, Manikganj and eight districts of Rajshahi Division were preparing to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr in full swing with family gatherings and meet-ups with friends after two years of subdued festivities due to pandemic restrictions.
But with gas supply turned off on Tuesday night for 48 hours due to maintenance work, they are left in the lurch at a time when they are hosting guests on Eid holidays, reports bdnews24.com.
The authorities had made announcements ahead of the outage, but many said they were caught unawares and eventually found themselves in a tight spot.
One of them, housewife Roksana Akter of Savar, said she felt helpless when she found on Wednesday morning the supply was halted after she had invited relatives over. “I can’t find an alternative because I live in a flat. Even the restaurants are closed. It’s become difficult to make our regular meals.”
Reshmi Akter, a resident of Vadail who was aware of the outage, said she made a wood-burning stove with bricks. “It's difficult to cook for guests without gas supply. It wasn’t a good move to halt supply at this time.”
Gas Transmission Company Limited said they suspended the supply to repair a pipeline in Tangail and replace valves in Gazipur.
4 RAJSHAHI DISTRICTS IN DISTRESS
There have been reports of similar adversities from Rajshahi, Sirajganj, Bogura and Pabna.
Mostafizur Rahman, a consumer from Rajshahi city’s Sagarpara, said finding an alternative for cooking Eid foods was woeful. Many people had to resort to cylinder gas, squandering savings.
Utpal Mirza from Pabna’s Dilalpur Kafiluddin Para said, “Eid is one of the biggest religious festivals of Bengalis that brings family members scattered around the country together. I condemn those who executed the decision for these two particular days.”
He suspects the gas officials “forced the decision” on them simply to enforce overtime bills.
Tapu Ahmed, a resident of Pabna’s Pailanpur Mahalla, spoke about similar cooking hardships on the night of Eid. “On top of that, my brother-in-law arrived at my home from Tangail. I'm lost for words to describe the mess.”
Nuzhat Noor Tushti, a housewife from Library Bazar, lamented: “What can I tell about the troubles of cooking on Eid night? We managed to set up a stove using bricks on the roof to somehow be able to cook something.”
“My husband, children and I travelled all the way to my paternal home in Jashore only because of this arbitrary decision of the gas authorities.”
Sultana Parveen Swapna from Sirajganj’s Sayadhangara Mahalla said, “We heard about the closure of the gas transmission line. But our stoves are still on, maybe that’s because some gas remained in the transmission pipes.”
Noor Alam Babu is a CNG-run autorickshaw driver who makes trips from Sirajganj’s Kazipur Upazila Sadar to Simantabazar. “I loaded up on enough gas for Eid but that’ll keep the autorickshaw running until tonight and I won’t be able to make any trips tomorrow,” he said.
Tajul Islam Majumder, GTCL director of operations, said: “We began work planning a 48-hour schedule. We're trying to wrap it up four hours ahead of schedule. That’ll be the best thing we can do for the consumers.”
