MIANWALI: The exorbitant gas bills by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) being received by consumers for the last three months have created unrest among them in Mianwali city.

When the consumers contact the SNGPL office to register complaints, they are told that the gas charges had been increased manifold by the government. The staff express their inability to rectify the bills, offering the consumers to pay the amount in installments. The officials are not interested in checking the meters and whenever they do check and a meter is found to be faulty, it is either not changed or replaced with a repaired meter. The consumers are charged for the new meter though they are issued repaired ones.

Dr Rana Arshad Mahmood Khan, a surgeon at the Mianwali District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), told Dawn he was residing in Doctors Colony of the hospital with three family members and he had received a gas bill of Rs556,000. He was using gas only for cooking and there was no commercial use of it.

Munshi Muhammad Ramzan, a journalist, told this scribe that he had a five-marla house and three family members but he had received Rs31,000 gas bill for the month of January. On his request, his meter was checked by the SNGPL staff and it was found faulty. But the staff did not replace it despite persistent requests. To make the matters worse, Ramzan received Rs41,000 bill for the month of February. Instead of replacing the faulty meter, the SNGPL disconnected gas supply to his house, declaring him a defaulter.

This scribe himself received a bill of Rs51,000 despite not using gas for the period mentioned in the bill. The local office of the SNGPL is unmoved for redress or rectification of the bill or provision of a new meter to restore the supply.

This scribe has a family of two members but received a bill of more than Rs12,000 in the last two months despite the fact that the SNGPL staff had declared the meter faulty. The meter was never replaced and there was no gas supply.

When contacted, SNGPL local office in-charge Muhammad Asad Khan said gas rates had been enhanced and huge billing was result of the same. He said faulty meters were being replaced with repaired ones available in their stock.

When this scribe inquired from Amanullah Khan, the technical officer of local office, he replied that new gas meters were only for new gas connections and faulty meters were replaced repaired ones which are being supplied from their Sargodha office.

The gas consumers have appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to look into the matter and redress the pressing issue as most of people can’t pay the exorbitant bills that they are receiving.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2019