State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has directed the Titas Gas authorities to take punitive action against officials responsible for a failure to increase customer services.
He gave the directive on Monday while visiting the headquarters of the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, the largest state-owned utility responsible for gas supply in Dhaka and adjoining districts.
He said he has been receiving constant complaints from the Titas Gas customers.
“These complaints need to be settled quickly. The Titas Gas officials have to be held accountable to their customers for their services," he added.
The state minister advised the Titas Gas authorities to keep their customers informed about its activities to increase their confidence in the company.
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He also directed the Titas Gas officials to step up the drives against the illegal gas connections.
He mentioned that due to technical reasons and also for the increase in the global price of LNG, the pressure of gas is slightly lower in the Titas Gas area.
While discussing the implementation progress of the existing projects of Titas Gas, the state minister said that schemes have to be taken up keeping in mind the next generation’s better services.
The Titas gas officials informed him that 25 km of illegal gas connections have been removed in November-2021, 24.1 km in December-2021 and 16 km in January-2022 during drives against illegal gas connections.
Titas officials also said that different government entities’ unpaid bills to Titas now stand at Tk 745.22 crore while private consumers’ unpaid bills are Tk 5620.25 crore.
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Nasrul Hamid requested the customers to pay the arrears, saying it was not possible to take up many service-oriented projects if the arrears bills are not realised.
He also instructed the Titas Gas officials to strengthen the drive for installing smart meters to enhance customer service.