Dhaka, Aug 3 (IANS) People in Dhaka and other areas of Bangladesh have been facing hardships as many compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered auto-rickshaws and public transport vehicles have not been operating due to an ongoing gas shortage in the country, local media reported on Monday.
Transport services have been disrupted because vehicles did not receive an adequate gas supply after waiting in long queues for hours, leaving commuters facing problems.
Many vehicle drivers said that they stood in queues late at night until the following morning or even afternoon to get a gas supply, Bangladesh-based leading daily The Dhaka Tribune reported.
Students, office-goers and patients have been facing problems in reaching their destinations on time due to the unavailability of public transport on the roads.
"On other days, I can easily get a CNG by standing on Banasree E-Block Avenue Road. But today, even after waiting for more than 1 hour, I did not find a single empty vehicle," The Dhaka Tribune quoted a commuter as saying.
Commuters even said that many drivers were asking for higher fares as there was a shortage of public transport on the road. They said that auto-rickshaws operating on CNG did not take fare as per meters while contract fares had doubled and, in some cases, tripled.
Meanwhile, transport owners said that more than half of their vehicles were not operating due to a shortage of gas supply, leading to financial losses for both owners and drivers.
The ongoing gas crisis in Bangladesh has reportedly been caused by a fire at a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Cox's Bazar on July 21, which damaged one of its two boilers and forced the facility to stop operations.
The incident reduced Bangladesh's gas supply to below 2,150 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), down from an average of around 2,700 mmcfd that had been maintained over the past year, despite the national daily demand standing at nearly 3,800 mmcfd, Bangladeshi media outlet United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported.
The gas supply reduction has also impacted household kitchens, with gas pressure reducing to near zero or flickering feebly in many parts of Dhaka.
Residents in areas like Mirpur, Badda, Kalabagan, Kafrul, Mohammadpur, Kazipara, West Tejturi Bazar and Rampura said that gas stoves remained unlit or unusable for days.
Disruption of regular gas supply has forced many low-income families to build temporary clay stoves and cook with firewood. Others who can afford it have started using expensive electric cookers or LPG cylinders, further increasing their household spending.
