KARACHI — Natural gas shortages across the city have pushed residents to a desperate, life-threatening solution: filling plastic bags with pressurized gas from main lines for use in kitchens.
The practice, common in neighborhoods like Lyari, Orangi Town, and Baldia, involves tapping into neighborhood supply lines. Residents attach long rubber hoses to the pipes, funneling the gas into large, thin plastic sacks. These makeshift containers are then carried into homes, where they are hooked up to stoves.
It’s an accident waiting to happen. A single spark or a puncture in the thin plastic could trigger a massive explosion in densely packed residential blocks.
“We have no choice,” said Mohammad Ali, a resident of a low-income neighborhood in West Karachi. “The main line pressure is zero for most of the day. If we don’t bag the gas when it trickles in at night, we don’t eat.”
Local authorities have long been aware of the practice, yet enforcement remains sporadic. Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) officials frequently cite “systemic low pressure” and illegal connections as the primary culprits behind the supply gap. They maintain that these plastic bag operations are not only dangerous but contribute to the massive leakage that drains the city’s already strained network.
The human cost of this energy poverty is high. Emergency rooms in government hospitals regularly treat patients with burn injuries tied to domestic gas leaks. Despite the risk, the reliance on these bags has grown as official supply schedules have become increasingly erratic over the past six months.
Experts point to a crumbling infrastructure that hasn’t kept pace with Karachi’s sprawling population. While the government discusses potential LNG imports and pipeline upgrades, these plans rarely reach the street level of the city’s poorest districts.
For now, the sound of hissing plastic bags—and the lingering smell of gas in cramped living rooms—has become a grim, daily reality for thousands. It is a dangerous trade-off: the risk of a domestic fire versus the certainty of going without a meal.
