A prolonged disruption to gas supply from the national grid has brought normal life in Netrokona to a standstill, leaving thousands of households unable to cook, paralysing CNG transport and disrupting operations at hospitals, the district jail and other essential public institutions.
The district has received virtually no gas for the past week, although consumers say supply pressure has remained critically low for around two weeks. Titas Gas authorities attributed the crisis to technical faults at the LNG terminal in Moheshkhali, which have disrupted supplies to the national grid for nearly a month.
According to Titas Gas, around 5,600 residential and commercial consumers in the district, along with one CNG filling station, 24 commercial establishments and 29 government institutions, depend on its gas network.
The prolonged outage has severely affected household cooking, while hotels, restaurants, bakeries and other businesses have struggled to continue operations. Government facilities, including the district hospital, police lines and district jail, have also faced difficulties in preparing meals and carrying out routine activities.
The district’s only CNG filling station has effectively ceased operations because of the complete loss of gas pressure.
Borhan Kabir, station engineer at AR Khan Pathan CNG Filling Station, said the facility had been suffering from low pressure for nearly a month, but inlet pressure had fallen to zero over the past seven to eight days.
“As a result, we cannot supply gas to any vehicles. Sales have almost stopped, leaving CNG-run auto-rickshaws, ambulances and other vehicles in severe difficulty,” he said.
He added that Titas Gas had informed the station that supply would resume once the technical faults at the LNG terminal were resolved. However, he noted that Netrokona, located at the far end of the Mymensingh gas distribution network near Sunamganj, had been among the worst affected by the pressure drop.
Drivers of CNG-powered auto-rickshaws and ambulances said many had travelled to Mymensingh in search of fuel, only to wait for hours without receiving sufficient gas. Many have been forced to switch to more expensive LPG, increasing operating costs.
The higher costs have led drivers to charge an additional Tk10-Tk20 per trip, often resulting in disputes with passengers. Many drivers also said falling incomes had made it difficult to repay vehicle instalments, leaving their families under financial strain.
Passengers complained that they were being forced to pay higher fares simply to reach their destinations.
Deputy Manager of Titas Gas in Netrokona Md Golam Mortuza said the disruption was caused by a national-level technical problem rather than any local fault.
“It is not a local issue. Gas supply to Netrokona has been completely interrupted because of disruption in the national grid,” he said.
He said both Bangladeshi engineers and a team of specialists from the United States were working to resolve the technical faults.
“I am also a resident of Netrokona and a Titas customer, so I understand the hardship people are facing,” he said, expressing hope that the situation would improve within the next five days while requesting consumers to remain patient.
Consumers, transport operators and business owners have urged the authorities to restore gas supplies as quickly as possible and take effective measures to prevent similar disruptions in future.
