March 28, 2024, 5:20 pm


Shamim Jahangir

Published:
2023-03-04 06:04:55 BdST

Tough action likely against gas bill defaulters


The government has moved to take stringent actions like cutting off connections against public organisations, autonomous bodies and private agencies to realise Tk 7,312.56 crore outstanding natural gas bills.

A meeting chaired by Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder on Tuesday made the decision.

A source inside the meeting said Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited has yet to receive gas bills of Tk 3396.90 crore.  

The company requested permission from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to issue notices against the unpaid bills and realise them.

The source said Titas Gas visited 206 clients in public and private sectors in December, 2022 and cut off only seven connections. It suspended the gas supply to eight clients.

Then, it realised Tk 5.89 crore from Dhaka City Corporation, Tk 0.58 crore from Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (Rajuk) and Tk 0.65 crore from Bangladesh Railway. The bills remained unpaid for a long time.

A total of another Tk 8.30 crore was collected from Bangladesh Police, Sadharan Bima Corporation, Eden College, Home Economics College, Staff Quarter of Sadharan Bima and Dhaka Wasa Staff Quarter.

Besides, the outstanding gas bills of Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System stands at Tk 1281.15 crore. The company recently served notices to 56 public entities for outstanding gas bills.

After the notices, the public entities paid only Tk 25.48 lakh against arrears of Tk 123.31 lakh, the company told the ministry.

It also said the unpaid bills of the BPDB accumulated for five months since September in 2022.

It said the distribution companies tried to collect the remaining arrears.

At Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company, the unpaid bills stand at Tk 720.70 crore. It already issued notices against the defaulters to pay the bills within seven days.

Sundarbans Gas Company Limited has 79 residential clients in Bhola. Of them, Police Super (Police Line Barrack House) didn’t pay gas bills for 11 months, Jail Super, Bhola for five months and Assistant Commissioner (Land) for four months.

The company served a notice to the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bhola. But the SP said the bill would be paid once they received the budget for it, according to the meeting sources.

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