PESHAWAR: People in rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s central and southern districts are endangering their and others’ lives by using large plastic bags to store natural gas for cooking during gas outages.

The gas storage ‘facility’ is a local innovation, with three parts, including a small electric suction pump, a plastic bag and a plastic pipe. Once filled with natural gas, the plastic bag inflates into an oversized balloon.

The bag’s size depends on the family’s needs, with joint families using large ones and others smaller.

A small valve is attached to one end of the bag with the help of a rubber pipe, while the other is tied. The bag is later hung to the wall. The plastic bag is connected with the cooking stove by a plastic pipe.

Admin claims arrests over illegal sale of large ‘balloons’

In most households, the balloon is placed on the rooftop under a shed for protection from rain, storm and sunlight. Some families place it on the veranda.

“Gas storage in plastic bags has made our lives somewhat easy amid gas cuts,” Asif Khan of Musazai village, which stands on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

Unaware of the dangers posed by storing cooking gas in the plastic bag, he insisted gas storage balloons provided them with relief from even gas outages of 20 hours a day.

He said the gas stored in the plastic bag was sufficient to cook sufficient food for the entire day, but it couldn’t be used to heat the rooms in winters due to limited storage capacity.

Shehzad Gul of Dir Colony said in the current fasting month of Ramazan, his house got natural gas from the public utility once a day.

He said gas supply began at around 2am for two hours before being suspended when people started preparing for sehri meal.

Mr Gul said that those not asleep at the time of gas supply filled plastic bags, while others had to use LPG to prepare pre-dawn food in Ramazan.

He said in months other than Ramazan, people got up early in the morning to turn the small suction pump on to fill the plastic bag with cooking gas from the main supply line for the house.

“Those who are late won’t be able to have gas as almost all consumers have got plastic bags to fill in those two hours,” he said.

Mohammad Bilal, another user of plastic bags from Guluzai village, said the prolonged gas outages had made their lives miserable.

“In the absence of natural gas, we use firewood and LPG that are very costly. We get little financial relief by storing the cooking gas in the plastic bag during gas cuts,” he said.

A sanitary fittings shop’s owner told Dawn that it was very easy to make the gas storage balloon as only a large plastic bag and a valve was required.

He said prior to the ban, he used to sell those bags openly.

“Despite ban, we are secretly selling gas bags to prevent a crackdown by police and district administration,” he said.

He said gas bags weren’t purpose-built but were a little thicker than the normal plastic bags.

When contacted, SNGPL general manager Waqas Shinwari said that it was a very dangerous and illegal practice to store cooking gas in plastic bags, with several accidents of damage to public life and property being reported over a period of time.

“Several children were recently wounded in the Terri area of Karak district due to the explosion of a plastic gas bag,” he said.

He said storing natural gas in large plastic bags was common in the areas where people were involved in gas theft.

Mr Shinwari said for the prevention of the hazardous practice and protection of lives, his department had repeatedly written letters to the district administrations for banning the sale of tools used in gas bags.

“Besides its dangerous use, a lot of gas is also wasted during the filling of plastic bags,” he said.

An official of district administration claimed many shopkeepers had been arrested for selling plastic bags used for filling cooking gas.

He said the use of such bags was banned as it was an illegal act and could harm the users.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2025