Severe Gas Crisis Disrupts Factories and Workers in Mymensingh
A severe gas crisis across industrial areas in Mymensingh has disrupted production and forced twenty factories to send workers on leave during lunch hours. Factory owners, officials, and workers report that low pressure has crippled machinery operations across multiple manufacturing plants.
A severe and persistent gas crisis has severely disrupted industrial production across the Mymensingh region, specifically impacting areas in Mymensingh, Bhaluka, and Gouripur. According to recent reports from the area, the ongoing shortage of adequate gas pressure has forced authorities at twenty factories to grant workers leave during their lunch hours as operations ground to a partial halt.
Statistical data from the region highlights the massive scale of the industrial sector and the heavy reliance on gas supply. The Mymensingh industrial belt comprises a total of 293 industrial factories, out of which 99 are explicitly gas-driven or gas-dependent. The acute shortage of gas has severely compromised the operational capacity of these vital manufacturing units, leading to widespread disruptions.
Within the affected industrial zones, production levels across major manufacturing plants have plummeted, with output dropping to an average of fifty percent. Specific facilities have suffered catastrophic operational setbacks due to the lack of necessary pressure. For instance, at Toyo Spinning Mills in Gouripur, forty-three out of fifty total machines had to be kept shut down. Similarly, at Sima Spinning Mills in Bhaluka, thirty machines were forced to remain completely shut down, causing production to drop by half.
Other industrial establishments are facing parallel operational crises. Experience Textiles reported that forty percent of its machines are currently shut down or inoperable. Meanwhile, Glory Textile and Apparel requires a gas pressure of 15 PSI to function optimally, but is currently receiving only 11 to 12 PSI. Sohel Ahmed, representing the facility, stated that low gas pressure has persisted for about one and a half to two months, resulting in a three to four percent drop in production.
Fueling the crisis is a steep drop in pipeline pressure from the distribution authorities. Shamim Hossain explained that the Bhaluka area is normally supplied through two separate lines carrying 140 PSI and 50 PSI respectively, but currently, plants are receiving only 30 to 50 PSI. Providing context on the ground reality, worker Hafiza Akter stated that due to the gas crisis, the volume of work has decreased significantly and not all machines can be operated at the same time.
The disruption affects a wide array of enterprises throughout the region, including Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, Delta Spinners, Excellent Ceramics, Mahadi Sweaters Limited, Sultana Sweaters, Liz Fashion, TM Textile, Trishal Textile, and BSP Spinning Mills, alongside monitoring by Industrial Police-5. Local administration figures including Ansar Uddin, Gopinath Kanjilal, and Syed Ahmed are closely observing the situation as workers and management navigate the ongoing shortages.
