Severe gas crisis in Brahmanbaria sparks CNG drivers' highway blockade
The prolonged shortage has disrupted household cooking, reduced the earnings of CNG drivers and forced many commuters to pay higher fares.
Highlights:
- CNG drivers blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway for 30 minutes
- Households have struggled with cooking for nearly two weeks
- Daily gas demand is nearly 8 million cubic feet, against 3 million supply
A severe gas shortage in Brahmanbaria has disrupted household cooking and public transport, prompting CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers to block the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway in protest today (13 August).
The drivers staged the demonstration in front of a filling station in the Kuttapara area of Sarail upazila from 1pm to 1:30pm.
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The blockade caused long traffic jams on both sides of the highway. Traffic returned to normal after highway police intervened and persuaded the protesters to withdraw the blockade.
According to locals, households and filling stations across the district have been experiencing gas shortages for nearly two weeks.
Many households have been unable to cook due to inadequate gas supply through pipelines, while some residents have been forced to use traditional clay stoves as an alternative.
The crisis has also affected public transport, with many CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers charging passengers higher fares to compensate for reduced access to fuel.
Shankar Das, a resident of Medda area in the district town, said he travelled to Kamaura in Ashuganj this morning for urgent work.
He said the usual fare between Kumarshil Mor and the Sarail-Bishwa Road intersection was Tk50 per passenger, but he had to pay Tk70 due to the gas shortage.
"As a result, I had to spend Tk40 more on the round trip," he said.
Auto-rickshaw driver Russell Mia said drivers were charging higher fares because filling stations were not receiving enough gas.
Bashirul Islam, a resident of Kuttapara, said there had been no gas supply to his home from the morning until 3pm. Although gas returned to the pipeline after 4pm, the pressure remained low.
According to the Brahmanbaria office of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Limited, the district has 23,178 residential consumers and 161 commercial consumers, including small industries, cottage industries and restaurants.
The company currently supplies an average of 3 million cubic feet of gas per day against demand of nearly 8 million cubic feet.
As a result, the company has been unable to meet consumers' demand through the pipeline network.
Shafiqul Haque, deputy general manager of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Limited in Brahmanbaria, said a shortage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) had reduced gas supplies across the district since Wednesday.
He said gas pressure had dropped significantly in some areas and added that it was not yet possible to say when the situation would improve.
