LAHORE: Though the winter has yet to properly set in, most of the city – from the posh localities like Gulberg to slums on the Ravi banks – has been experiencing low gas pressures for the last few days with the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) facing almost 50pc deficit in its demand-supply ratio.

According to the company officials, it was getting only 1,466 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas against total demand of 2,858mmcfd – causing a shortfall of 1,392mmcfd. With Lahore being a gas guzzler because of its population and industrial density, the city has started feeling the pressure for the last few days, which, the company officials fear, would only worsen in days to come.

For last one weak, there is hardly any locality in the city that has not faced supply, or, at least, low pressure problem. But Mughalpura, Gari Shahu, Township, Samanabad, Clifton Colony, Cavalry Grounds and some parts of Gulberg and Johar Town are the worst-hit areas.

“Though one expects the problem to occur each winter, the severity is only felt when it actually hits the people,” says Malik Aftab of Gulberg. “For the last few days, we have to shift our entire cooking to the much expensive Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Warm water is simply missing as geysers don’t run for the better part of the day, creating problems for the elderly members of the family. The life is becoming increasingly hard though winter has still not started biting as deep as it normally does at the start of December. Once temperatures drop further, things would only worsen and the SNGPL only increase frequency of advertisements – asking people to be conservative in consumption of a commodity that the company increasingly fails to supply,” he laments.

“More than the shortages, it is the sense of complete helplessness that psychology hurts one the most,” claims a former employee of the company. “The company has been warning the government for the last many years that deficit would cripple the country unless additional gas is arranged; either by exploring locally or importing from neighbouring countries.Even plans were drawn for both possibilities but nothing materialised. Rather exactly opposite to it happened; the government blindly allowed setting up of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations, quickening the depletion of local gas reserves. The local stocks suffered on two accounts; natural depletion and extra and extravagant usage. Nothing came online to replenish dwindling local supplies. Right now, the country is facing over 50 per cent gas shortages but the government is still planning whether it should be importing gas from Iran or not, or it should opt for almost impossible option of bringing gas from Central Asian states, with pipelines running through perpetually unstable Afghanistan. It is hard to fathom what kind of planning, or lack of it, is it; where everyone knows, not only the problem, but its expanding extent as well but no one doing anything to deal with the situation,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2014