With the arrival of winter season, different parts of the country are facing severe gas shortage as the government failed to ensure the import of required amount of LNG, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

This shortage or loadshedding is a routine matter for most of the consumers in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but the big cities like Lahore and Karachi are also witnessing a crisis at a time when the harshest of the weather is yet to come.

In Lahore, the unannounced loadshedding has badly disrupted routine life in different areas. The situation can be gauged by the fact that the problem is not limited to the poor neighbourhoods as even the posh localities haven’t been spared by this situation.

Hence, the state of affairs has made people protesting, saying that bills are being regularly sent to them without ensuring the gas supply. 

Akram Park is one of the affected areas. It is located in Islampura along Bund Road where the residents say they are forced to buy expansive LPG which further burdens them amid the alarming overall inflation.

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The ruling class makes tall claims only during elections but even basic amenities are not provided after that, the angry locals said and added that the government wasn’t taking the gas shortage seriously which required serious and concert steps.

But the low gas pressure during day and loadshedding in night hours in several areas is quite strange for Karachi given the comparatively milder nature of weather.

This problem is not limited to some particular neighbourhoods as most parts of the city – Lyari, Nazimabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Liaquatabad, Shah Faisal Colony and others – have been badly affected. 

And the problem is complicated for those who depend upon smaller roadside hotels and eating points. People have to reach their workplaces in the morning but the low gas pressure means a delay in breakfast, said an elderly citizen.

Similarly, another person said gas pressure was very low in the morning and during the night, adding that sometimes there would be no supply at all.

Just like the issue raised by the citizens in Lahore, the people of Karachi are wary of the LPG due to its higher price and the resultant addition to their monthly expenses as no one can escape using fuel to sustain their existence.