LAHORE, Jan 4: Despite the cold spell, the gas supply problem in the city is getting worse, specially for the tail-end users.

The worst-hit are pockets in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Walton Road, Gulshan-i-Ravi, Samanabad and Township, which represent at least 20 per cent of 600,000 gas consumers in the city. During the peak hours, most of these areas have their supplies drop to nil, with some improvement later in the day.

According to officials of the Sui Northern Gas Pakistan Limited (SNGPL), gas consumption in the city increased from 280 to 350mmcfd during the last five days. That amounts to almost 25 per cent increase in less than a week.

Though the gas supply system had stretched beyond its limits during the last few days, the trouble spots did not represent even 25 per cent of the 600,000 gas consumers in city, they said. The government did not allow us to curtail supplies to industry this year as had been the case last year, they claimed. However, the company had still been able to manage the supplies, they added.

They claimed that during winter, the gas requirement automatically went up as a lot of energy was wasted due to the weather. The use of heating gadgets only adds to the problem. However, this is a temporary phenomenon that should be over within a few day.

The company on Saturday told a fertiliser factory to curtail its use from 40 to 15 million cubic feet, noting that the industry accounted for almost 50 per cent of the gas consumption. If the cold weather persisted, the company might have to exercise the option of squeezing the gas supply to the industry, the sources said. However, there is currently no need for it, as the SNGPL has increased the pressure of gas in some of the affected areas and is dealing with the situation through load-management within 200 supply stations of the city.