Gas outage grips parts of Dhaka as valve closure for leak repair disrupts supply

A gas supply disruption has hit parts of Dhaka after valves were shut to repair a major leak in an underground pipeline, reports bdnews24.com.

The outage has affected Mohammadpur, Shyamoli, Kalyanpur, Mirpur and Tejgaon since Wednesday night, leaving many households without gas as repair work overran the scheduled timeframe.

According to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, a major leak has occurred in a 12-inch, 50 PSIG (pounds per square inch gauge) distribution line on Darussalam Main Road near Mirpur Road, making repair work more complex.

Although work began after the leak was identified, “the scale of the damage” prevented completion within the expected time.

The company said additional valves had to be shut beyond initial requirements to stabilise the situation, which led to a sudden halt in gas supply across multiple areas.

Work is now in its final phase, with supply expected to return within 30 minutes to one hour, it added.

Residents said cooking has remained suspended in many homes since night due to the outage.

Chamon Hossain, a resident of Road 12 in Adabor, described his predicament. “I woke up in the morning and there was no gas at all. My child has school, my husband has work. It’s a real problem.”

She said they managed meals throughout the day by heating food in an oven, adding that the sudden disruption without notice created serious difficulties for families.

A resident of the Mohammadpur Housing Society said gas supply had been unavailable since night, forcing the family to rely on dry food in the morning and wait a long time when trying to get food from outside.

Another resident in Shyamoli said the lack of gas meant breakfast could not be prepared, leaving them to manage with whatever food was available at home.

The “lack of transparency” from the authorities has sparked public anger.

One resident said, “The valve at Aminbazar was closed for work. This should have been announced in advance. Leaving people unaware causes unnecessary hardship.”

This crisis echoes a similar event in January when a critical valve explosion near the former Ganabhaban led to a "severe low-pressure" situation across Dhanmondi, Hazaribagh, and New Market.

During that previous incident, Titas also had to restrict the network by closing multiple valves, and it took several hours for the system to fully pressurise even after the components were replaced.