Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company conducted 28,398 drives and disconnected over 600,000 illegal gas connections in the last 20 months in Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions. Reportedly, the drives were conducted from October 2021 to June 2023 and the length of the illegal connections were 668km. It is worth mentioning that Eight Titas employees were sacked due to their involvement in setting illegal gas connections and some 228 employees had faced different kinds of punishment during this time.
It is disconcerting to note that Titas, the largest gas supplier in the country is accountable for many illegal gas connections in the country. Government does not get any bills against these illegal gas lines. As a result, the government is being deprived of a huge amount of revenue from this sector. Titas Gas authorities cannot deny their liabilities for this disorder.
The
government should devise necessary
measures to identity those corrupt
officials involved in providing
illegal gas lines and
take stringent action against them
There is no denying that Titas officials do conduct drives to sever the illegal gas lines, but the problem is that there are unscrupulous people within the gas company who are involved in providing illegal gas connections.
Capital's gas distribution system has become a death trap over the years. Most of the gas pipelines in and around Dhaka are 30-40 years old and almost dilapidated. These gas connections and old dilapidated pipelines are not only responsible for the wastage of huge amount of gas but also such gas connections often lead to incidents of fire and explosions.
Taking all into consideration, the government should devise necessary measures to identity those corrupt officials involved in providing illegal gas lines and take stringent action against them. Also, drives must be conducted regularly to disconnect the illegal gas lines. Strong political commitment is needed to disconnect all the illegal gas lines in the country.
