Pishin, Balochistan: After attending a wedding in Quetta, Asad Khan and his family returned home. Exhausted after a one-and-a-half hours journey by road, Khan and his family started preparing for bed to be up early next morning for work. Before tucking into the bed on yet another cold night, Khan closed the bed room window and turned on the gas heater. Within minutes, the entire family was sound asleep. Who would have thought what would happen next. Tragedy had befallen the Khan family. The room heater had turned off, gas had accumulated and Asad and his family died of suffocation.
It did not take long for Asad and his family to become breaking news, for all the tragic reasons. TV channels' DSNG vans and hordes of press photographers had swarmed his house as the ambulances took away the dead for post-mortem. A little negligence had resulted in a big tragedy. Had Asad kept a window slightly open, he and his family would have survived.
Asad and his family's tragic end is not an isolated saga. Every winter, deaths and injuries from callous use of gas-fired appliances are common place in those regions in Pakistan that experience bitterly cold winters. A wide seasonal variation in demand for natural gas between the summer and winter months is witnessed in cold areas due to space heating and hot water requirements. For instance, demand for natural gas in Quetta multiplies four times in winters. Balochistan consumes 25 to 35 mmcfd gas in summers that shoots to 130 to 150 mmcfd in winters. A similar situation exists in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since almost all this increase in demand is generated from the domestic sector, gas is curtailed for the industrial, CNG and power sectors to service the residential areas, in accordance with the Government's gas load management plan.
In Balochistan, gas-fired appliances run through most part of bitterly cold winters and a common man's bill may shoot up by Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000. Unable to pay such an exorbitant bill, consumers start tampering with gas meters on a mass scale or pilfering gas by puncturing the company's supply lines to meet their heating needs. Because of this phenomenon, the incidence of SSGC's Unaccounted-for-Gas or line losses which is around 10% during summers, soars to as high as 55 percent.
Awareness campaigns
To sensitize the consumers better, SSGC runs its Winter Safety Awareness Campaign by chalking out a carefully targeted print, electronic and digital media plan, thus ensuring maximum coverage. Since SSGC's franchise areas are Sindh and Balochistan, national and regional newspapers and TV channels are aimed at. Timing is all important. For instance, running winter campaigns before the advent of say, peak winter season is important since in colder areas, chilly weather begins much earlier than in warmer regions. The company reinforces its mass media campaigns by formally launching a campaign in Quetta from October every year and continues with it till February of the following year, a period that witnesses inclement weather conditions in Balochistan and in many parts of Sindh.
Mass media advertising campaign targeting local newspapers and television channels go hand in hand with exclusive sessions with opinion leaders such as local clerics and media based in Balochistan.
Support of ulema and media is elicited so that they can play their respective roles in controlling gas theft as well as advise their audience about safe use of gas-fired appliances to ensure that lives are not lost due to callous usage.
Members of the media fraternity are invited to apprise them of gas supply issues emerging from bitterly cold weather conditions while also reiterating the need for taking a collective stand to control and report gas theft and leakages. Besides many useful pointers, the Company focuses on the fact that careful use of geysers and thermostats setting on warm in winter will also save a substantial amount on one's gas bill. The Company reinforces its communiqué by branding its Customer Relations Department vans with winter awareness messages. These vans ply around different localities in towns and cities, catering to customer complaints.
The impact of the awareness campaign has been quite positive since the number of deaths and injuries resulting from negligence in the use of gas-fired appliances has fallen drastically in Balochistan and other areas during the last few years. For instance, back in 2013, careless use of gas appliances caused 21 deaths and 50 injuries. Five years later in 2018, the number of casualties fell to just one death and nine injuries.
A wise man once said, 'We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.' Back when we were consuming gas with no fear ever of running out of it, we did not foresee a future when demand for gas will outstrip supply by miles. We can all reverse the situation if we do our bit to conserve gas and use it wisely. It is a tough call but a collective effort will ensure a win-win situation for all concerned.
(The writer is Chief Manager (Corporate Communications) at SSGC)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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