Thousands of residential consumers in Feni are facing an acute gas crisis, with many households receiving uninterrupted supply for less than four hours a day, forcing families to rely on LPG cylinders, electric cookers and even firewood for daily cooking.
The prolonged disruption, which has persisted for several months, has sparked growing anger among around 32,000 residential consumers under the Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company. Despite paying monthly bills regularly, residents say they are being deprived of the service and have warned of protests unless the situation improves.
The shortage has also affected factories and small businesses, disrupting production and causing financial losses.
Residents say gas pressure drops so sharply during the day that burners often fail to ignite. Many families now depend on restaurants for breakfast and lunch, while others have been forced to purchase alternative cooking fuel at additional cost.
Fahima Abedin, a resident of East Ukilpara, said her home had a gas connection but there was rarely enough pressure to cook.
“We have been forced to keep an LPG cylinder and an electric cooker at home. We are now paying for three different sources of cooking fuel,” she said.
Engineer Shahabuddin, from Gadalgazi, said the crisis had continued for years without any lasting solution.
“This is not a problem of one or two days. Years have passed, but nothing has changed,” he said.
Aparna Nath, a resident of Arambagh, said gas supply had become so irregular that consumers were paying bills without being able to use their stoves.
According to residents, some gas is available before dawn, but pressure begins falling from around 7am and remains extremely low until afternoon. Supply improves only late at night, creating severe difficulties for office workers, students and families with young children.
Kazi Riaz, from Alokdia on the outskirts of Feni town, said gas usually arrived around midnight and disappeared again by 6am.
“We are paying both pipeline gas bills and the cost of LPG cylinders because we have no other option,” he said.
A landlord in the Old Police Quarter area said tenants in his seven-storey building, which has 14 gas connections, complained almost every day about the lack of supply.
“Repeated complaints to the gas office have produced no effective solution. Many tenants are now reluctant to pay their gas bills,” he said.
Several homemakers said preparing breakfast or lunch before children left for school had become almost impossible, forcing many families to buy food from outside at extra expense.
Consumers say the problem affects almost every part of Feni town and surrounding areas, including East Ukilpara, Petrobangla, Banshpara, Sahadevpur, Alokdia, the Old Police Quarter and Rampur. In some neighbourhoods, cooking rice takes hours because of low pressure, while in others gas burners fail to light altogether.
People associated with the sector said the prolonged shortage was also disrupting gas-dependent restaurants and small businesses, many of which were struggling to complete production or cooking on time.
Md Akhtaruzzaman, deputy general manager of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company, said the crisis was mainly caused by the declining capacity of Feni’s ageing gas distribution network.
He, however, could not say when the problem would be resolved.
Residents have urged the authorities to take immediate interim measures to restore normal gas pressure while implementing long-term infrastructure improvements. They warned that if no visible action is taken soon, they will launch organised protests.
