Severe Gas Crisis Grips Savar, Impacting Homes and Industry

A severe and prolonged gas crisis has gripped Savar, Bangladesh, significantly disrupting daily life, industrial operations, and the local transport sector. According to verified reports, the crisis has been ongoing for approximately a month and a half to two months, leaving residential areas, commercial enterprises, and motorists struggling to cope with a near-total lack of reliable fuel supplies. Throughout this period, conditions have remained persistently difficult both day and night, affecting every major sector of the local economy and community.

In residential neighborhoods, the disruption has forced families to radically alter their cooking habits. Residents like Naznin Sultana have highlighted the double burden of the shortage, stating, "For two months there has been no gas, and again we have to buy firewood. There is also a crisis of firewood." Echoing these severe domestic hardships, Tania Akhter explained the financial and personal toll, noting, "I don't have the ability to buy a cylinder. At the end of the month, the gas bill has to be paid just right. We have a lot of hardship. If we eat one meal, we cannot eat two meals because of the gas." Consequently, local residents have been forced to resort to alternative cooking methods, including traditional mud stoves, LPG cylinders, and electric cookers, despite lacking the financial means to do so comfortably.

The transport sector has experienced paralyzing bottlenecks due to low pressure and complete outages at fueling stations. Within the Savar municipality area, as well as Aminbagan and Hemayetpur, five out of seven CNG stations completely lack adequate gas pressure, leading to immense frustration for drivers. Nur Alam described a typical ordeal at the pumps, saying, "Like I came at eight o'clock and it is one o'clock in the day. I didn't get gas." Motorists traveling from further afield are facing the exact same obstacles. Shahidul Islam, who traveled from Manikগঞ্জ to Savar, remarked, "We have come to this Savar from Manikganj. We don't get gas anywhere. Night and day the same situation."

Industrial factories and businesses across Savar are suffering under critically low gas pressure, which has severely hampered manufacturing and commercial output. Humayun Kabir detailed the technical constraints facing the energy-dependent stations and businesses, explaining, "Usually, to run a CNG station, it takes 8 to 10 PSI, where we have 3 PSI." The drop from the normal level of 8 to 10 PSI down to just two to three PSI has forced factories to seek alternative power sources, creating a cascading resource shortage.

To maintain operations amidst the failing utility supply, factories have had to rely heavily on backup power generation. Khairul Alam described the compounding industrial crisis, stating, "Currently, to run the generator, we have to constantly collect oil and all the industries around us, to keep the generator running at the same time, their oil crisis; that has also taken an acute shape now." Despite the widespread suffering across residential, industrial, and transport sectors, local representatives of Titas Gas in Savar have refused to comment on the matter.