Gas line breach halts factory production in Habiganj for 10 hours

A major industrial disruption occurred in Habiganj after construction workers accidentally severed a high-pressure natural gas line during work on the six-lane Dhaka-Sylhet highway, halting production in at least 20 factories for nearly 10 hours.

The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon around 4:00pm in Shahjibazar, Madhabpur upazila, near the Star Ceramic factory, when workers excavating for a culvert struck the main gas pipeline operated by Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution System Limited.

Gas supply was only restored to normal around 2:00am Thursday, following emergency repair efforts.

Rezaul, an official at Metador Group, one of the affected companies, said the sudden gas cutoff brought production to a standstill. "While working on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, the workers cut the gas line. This severely disrupted our operations. We are still assessing the financial damage," he said.

Md Imdadul Haque, Senior Executive at Square Denim, confirmed the impact: "The main gas line was cut near Shahjibazar. Gas supply stopped immediately, halting all production. It took about 10 hours to normalize supply."

Jalalabad Gas Managing Director Md Atiqur Rahman described the pipeline as a critical high-pressure line. "We had to shut it down immediately after the breach. Our technical team conducted urgent repairs and managed to restore supply by late night," he said.

He added that this was not the first time the line had been damaged during highway construction. "They cut it once before. This is a sensitive and vital pipeline. We will formally notify the Roads and Highways Department today and demand stricter coordination to prevent future incidents."

However, officials from the Roads and Highways Department defended the ongoing construction, calling it a project of national importance. 

Shamsuzzoha, the project engineer overseeing the Jagdishpur to Bahubal stretch, said, “We had formally requested Jalalabad Gas over a year ago to relocate the pipeline and even paid the government-mandated fees. But due to delays in land acquisition, the relocation hasn’t happened.”

“We cannot stop this national project, but we have repeatedly warned them of the risks. If the line isn’t moved soon, further accidents are inevitable,” he warned.

The Shayestaganj to Madhabpur corridor is a major industrial hub, hosting numerous export-oriented textile, ceramic, and manufacturing units. The prolonged gas outage disrupted production cycles, damaged perishable materials, and caused significant financial losses, though exact figures remain uncalculated.

Local industrialists are now calling for better inter-agency coordination between infrastructure developers and utility providers to prevent such incidents as the highway project accelerates.

The Dhaka-Sylhet six-lane highway upgrade, initiated about three years ago, has recently gained renewed momentum under government directives to complete it within a shortened timeline. 

But the latest accident underscores the risks of overlapping infrastructure projects without adequate planning and safeguards.