ABBOTTABAD/SWABI: Low gas pressure and outages at sehr and iftar times have been creating problems for residents in several areas of Abbottabad and Swabi to prepare food in their houses.

In Abbottabad, the affected areas of the city include Nawansher, Malik Pura, Kunj Qadeem and Kunj Jadeed, Lower Kehal, Upper Kehal, Sheikhulbandi and other nearby localities.

The residents claimed that gas supply was stopped at around 3am and restored at 5am, while in the evening it was suspended at 6pm and restored at 9pm.

People have lodged complaints about low gas pressure in the city area with the SNGPL. However, they said that no action was taken as yet.

The residents said they had to buy cooked food from restaurants in compulsion and urged the authorities to immediately restore smooth gas supply.

In addition, people have also complained about frequent suspensions of power supply in the city affecting business activities and creating water shortage in parts of Abbottabad.

In Swabi, low gas pressure and at times outage in various regions of Topi tehsil and residential colonies of Tarbela Dam during sehr time on Friday created problems for the residents to prepare food.

The residents said there were no restaurants in the affected areas like big cities to arrange food for their families, which aggravated their problems.

“It is difficult to arrange firewood and prepare food in a hurry. In short, we did not have food in sehri and the SNGPL officials were responsible for our agony,” said Azmat Ali of Madina Town.

Usman Sher of Hamlet village said this was the first that gas supply was suspended at sehr time.

The supply also remained suspended in Kotha, Haider Colony and various other regionsof Topi tehsil.

The people of Tarbela Damcolonies also made similar complaints.

When contacted, an official in the district office of SNGPL said that the supply was restored in time, but gas did not reach the domestic consumes as the CNG filing stations continued work.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022