LPG sold in plastic bags in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the practice of using gas packed in plastic bags instead of cylinders for cooking has increased. Gas is sold by filling bags inside the shops connected to the gas pipeline network. People use it in the kitchen with the help of a small electric suction pump.
Actually, there has been a decrease in the reserve of natural gas in Pakistan. Because of this, the administration has reduced its supply. Inflation has also increased due to a shortage of gas. It has become difficult for people to buy gas cylinders. Compared to this, it is easier and cheaper to buy these bags sold illegally.
This method of gas accumulation is extremely dangerous. There is a danger of explosion in it. In media reports, Dr. Kurtulain, medical officer of the Burn Care Center of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, was quoted as saying that about 8 such patients come to his center every day, who were injured in the blasts in these bags. Most of these are women.
The administration keeps on taking action on their purchase and sale. In the month of December itself, 16 shopkeepers were arrested from Peshawar. To avoid action, people are also doing business surreptitiously.
In Karak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the circulation of these plastic gas cylinders is high. Here boys on foot or on motorcycles are seen carrying gas home very carefully in huge plastic bags. They look like big balloons, but they contain cooking gas. In an hour's time, only 3 to 4 kg of gas comes in a bag, in which food can hardly be cooked.
According to media reports, people in Karak have not been given gas connections since 2007. Here gas is available from the supply line of the neighbouring Hangu district. This too is lying broken for the last 2 years. At the place where the pipe is broken, people stand in long lines for two hours and take gas filled in plastic.
Now the irony is that the maximum gas is produced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 2020, more than 8.5 million barrels of oil were produced, while 64,967 million cubic feet of gas were also released from five fields here. Despite this, people in these areas are forced to take gas in plastic bags.
Najibullah Khan, a businessman, said that the cost of a gas cylinder ranges from 2,500 to 3,000 Pakistani rupees. The price of the cylinder coming in commercial use is 10 thousand Pakistani rupees. Whereas, gas sold in plastic bags is available for 500 to 900 Pakistani rupees.
Every year in Pakistan there is a shortage of gas in winter due to the increase in the prices of wood and coal. Compared to last year, the prices of wood and coal have doubled this year. According to media reports, gas is not available at all in many cities of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Gas supply is being stopped for several hours every day in Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Multan, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.