An acute shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has forced nearly all autogas stations across the country to shut down operations, said Serajul Mawla, president of the Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners Association, yesterday.

Mawla said the shortage has directly affected thousands of LPG-powered vehicles, leaving owners and drivers in severe distress as they struggle to obtain fuel.

In many cases, vehicle owners roam from one station to another for hours but fail to collect gas, disrupting both vehicle operations and passenger services, he added.

He made the remarks at a press conference held at the Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital.

According to the association, Bangladesh consumes an average of about 140,000 tonnes of LPG per month.

“We strongly urge the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure an uninterrupted supply of at least 10 per cent of total monthly LPG consumption, or 15,000 tonnes, to autogas stations for use in the transport sector,” Mawla said.

He said that if the autogas industry collapses, nearly 150,000 owners of LPG-powered vehicles will face serious hardship and be forced to remove LPG kits and revert to other fuels.

Mawla also said autogas station owners are already facing severe business losses due to the ongoing crisis.

Md Hasin Parvez, general secretary of the association, said the government has a moral and constitutional responsibility to protect people from the crisis by quickly normalising LPG imports, investigating the causes of the shortage and resolving them.

At present, the organisation has approximately 800 members.