JHANG: Hundreds of women along with their children on Saturday blocked Jhang-Gojra Road railway crossing and staged a demonstration against the local Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) officials who failed to control the gas leakages which were a major reason for the increased gas load shedding in the city.

The protesters who were holding kitchen utensils to show their concern over the disruption of their life routine because of prolonged gas outages and low pressures, lamented what they called collapse of the SNGPL’s local transmission system.

They shouted slogans against the rulers and SNGPL authorities for their poor control and command over the “corrupt and inefficient” staffers.

They alleged that low-quality underground pipelines in the city were causing leakages and resulting in over billing and increased outages.

They alleged the local SNGPL transmission and distribution system was being run through untrained private people because permanent staffers who are recruited on political recommendation were not capable of running it.

They said the SNGPL officials blamed illegally installed compressors by domestic consumers for outages to conceal their negligence in plugging the leakages in underground pipelines which were the actual culprit.

They said whenever the consumers visited the local SNGPL office with leakage complaints they had to face humiliation at the hands of the officials concerned.

They demanded immediate transfer of “inefficient” in charge of the local SNGPL office who had been serving there since long, besides proper repair of the underground pipelines to avoid leakages.

The protest continued for hours, throwing traffic out of gear on the busy road.

Later, on the assurance of the district administration that their grievances would be brought into the notice of SNGPL high-ups, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

It was the third protest by the women in a week against gas shortage.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2015

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