Titas cut 4 lakh lines over dues, illegality in 2022

In a major development, the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, popularly known as Titas Gas, has cut around four lakh illegal connections at different consumer levels last year.

The move was aimed at ensuring smooth gas supply to authorised customers and recover outstanding bills, according to The Business Standard. 

Of the total cut off connections – over 3.96 lakh were domestic lines while 739 were industrial, commercial, captive and CNG consumer lines, according to Titas Gas data.

The connections were cut off through 8,849 mobile courts and special drives from January to December 2022, said the company.

Md Haronur Rashid Mullah, managing director of Titas Gas, told The Business Standard that the operations to cut off illegal connections at all consumer levels will be continued.

"This year, along with the private connection, we are going to cut off the public organisations' connections that have outstanding gas bills," said Md Haronur Rashid Mullah.

Titas Gas – the largest among the six state-owned gas distribution companies –supplies gas to customers in Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions.

Currently, the company has around 28.77 lakh connections, among which 28.58 lakhs are domestic, said sources at Titas Gas.

As of November 2022, the company's total receivable from the public and private consumers was Tk6,520 crore. Out of that amount, public sector companies owed Titas Tk1,057 crore and private consumers Tk5,463 crore.

Of the total cut off connections of last year, around 50,469 were cut due to outstanding bills and rest were for lacking authorisation.