State-owned Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL) has launched a drive against illegal gas users. In just one week, the company has disconnected about 60,000 illegal connections along with around 90 kms of illegal lines within a week, according to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
TGTDCL official said about 20 million cubic feet of gas was used illegally in the areas that were disconnected. Considering the price of imported LNG, it can be seen that the disconnected illegal connections used to consume gas worth Tk 20 crore per day and the total amount stands at Tk 600 crore per month.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has directed the authorities concerned to disconnect illegal gas connections immediately. He told the officials at the secretariat on Sunday that illegal gas connections needed to be quickly disconnected. He also directed all concerned to take effective steps to collect the arrears.
Nasrul also said it is often seen illegally taking residential connections from high-capacity distribution gas lines is extremely risky. This deprived the government of huge amount of revenue. Zero tolerance policy has been adopted regarding illegal gas connections. Legal users are being harmed in many ways due to illegal gas users. In addition, very expensive imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) is being used by these illegal users.
According to TGTDCL, about 60,000 illegal gas connections have been cut off in Sonargaon, Rupganj, Kanchan in Narayanganj and Gazaria of Munshiganj district from May 15 to May 22. A 10-km line illegally taken from 140-PSGI valve outlets of 6 inches diameter has been disconnected from the side of BR Spinning Mill in Jampur Union of Sonargaon Upazila. Seven thousand illegal connections have been cut off including those in 100 small industries and 5 restaurants in the area.
In Rupganj area, 8 km of illegal gas connection has been disconnected from Kayetpara on May 22. About three thousand illegal connections were disconnected there. In the Kanchan area of Rupganj, 41 thousand illegal gas connections have been disconnected on May 20 last. The two industries are disconnected. In Gazaria upazila of Munshiganj, around 15 thousand illegal gas connections have been disconnected over an area of about 25 km pipelines.
TGTDCL has made an integrated masterplan to remove illegal gas connections. In areas where most of the gas connections will be identified as illegal, gas connection in the entire area will be disconnected.
Energy and Mineral Resources Division had set a target of disconnecting all illegal gas connections in the country by December 31 last year. However, there are still illegal gas lines in some areas of the country.
Meanwhile, any new gas connections for domestic use have already been stopped for a long time due to gas shortage. Despite ban on new gas line connections to households it was noticed that unscrupulous officials are still engaged in giving connections in return for huge amount of money.
Most of the illegal gas lines are in Titas Gas Transmission & Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL) area, according to an official report.
Most of the illegal pipelines are in Narayanganj Sadar, Rupganj, Bandar, Araihazar and Rupganj upazilas, Munshiganj Sadar and Gazaria. There are also illegal gas lines in Jatrabari, Shampur, Postagola, Demra, Matuail, Signboard, Karail Basti, BTCL area of Banani, Jamgarh, Dhalpur, Amtala and some other areas of Dhaka. Apart from this, there are some illegal pipelines in Gazipur and Narsingdi districts.
According to reliable sources, in many areas, syndicates involving Titas employees and locals are maintaining these connections at a rate of Tk 500-600 per month per connection. In order to provide these illegal connections, an unofficial amount of Tk 20,000 to Tk 70,000 is charged in the different areas.
The trend of giving and taking illegal gas connections started in 2009, the year when the government announced banning new gas connection. Gas connection is still not provided to residents. It is also very difficult to get connection in the industry. However, new connection is still available allegedly in return for bribed money.
Ali Iqbal Mohammad Nurullah, Managing Director of TGTDCL told Bangladesh Post, "Illegal gas disconnection operations are underway. Upon receiving a complaint, the special team goes to the spot and disconnects as well as imposes fines. Illegal connections still remain to be disconnected in a few areas due to lack of information. We are collecting information. Those illegal connections will be removed as soon as possible.”
