KOHAT: Hundreds of women blocked Rawalpindi road near Bahawalnagar here on Monday to protest gas outages.

The protesting women said that gas was supplied to domestic consumers only for three hours during day and night. They said that the pressure of gas was also very low. They said that despite prolonged gas outages, they received inflated bills.

They said that there was great resentment among people over gas outages and inflated bills. They said that domestic consumers received Rs16,000 to Rs25,000 gas bills for the current month. They chanted slogans against the district administration for not making efforts to restore normal supply of the commodity to domestic consumers.

The protesting women said that Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) had been providing gas three times a day in the morning, noon and evening for the last four months to them. They said that pressure of gas very low. They said that they could not prepare breakfast for their school going children in the morning owing loadshedding of gas.

The district administration sent an additional assistant commissioner to hold talks with the angry protesters. The official assured the protesting women of smooth supply of gas. The protesters dispersed peacefully after getting the assurance. The road remained blocked for more than an hour.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2024