Gas cylinder shortage continued yesterday in the governorates of Gharbia, Ismailia, Sharkia and Beheira. Rows broke out in the village of Sharkia el-Masara (Dakahlia) on Tuesday as people in the crowd tried to get these cylinders. A verbal row started among the women of three different families, while men intervened later on. Some people were injured with bruises, while the distributor was compelled to stop selling the cylinders more than once. Local resident Riyadh el-Qatt said others in the village had decided to resort to primitive ways to cook and get some heat, such as wood and straw, to avoid fighting for the cylinders brought by cars which he said came at night every five days. Dakahlia Governorate Assistant Secretary General Omar Nabih said he would go to Cairo today to find a solution with Petrogas Company in order to increase the share of gas allocated to the governorate. In Ismailia, the crisis escalated in the Sarabium village, as hundreds of people flocked to the gas cylinder outlet to pay up to LE 10 for a cylinder. Others, instead, went to the governorate's main warehouse in Abou Balah village, where cylinders were sold out in less than half an hour. Gas cylinder project director Mohsen Fouad called on Governor Abdel Galil el-Fakhrani to intervene and activate the Suez Canal Authority's warehouse, which has not been inaugurated yet, to ease the pressure on the other warehouses. In Beheira, supply director Kamal Shebel said a campaign had already kicked off and had led to 50 complaints against people who had gathered a total of 1,474 cylinders and used them in brick factories and poultry farms, thus affecting household consumption. Gharbia Governor Abdel Hameed Shanawi said a committee had been formed which included the representatives of the sectors of provision, industrial security and oil to inspect all brick factories and poultry farms which used subsidized gas cylinders. He also pointed out that 1,435 cylinders had been confiscated which had been used in several factories and farms. In Sharqia, more than 700 people gathered in front of Abou Kabir's council on Tuesday waiting for the gas cylinder car, but it did not arrive contrary to what they had been told by the supply directorate inspectors. Mohamed Moussa, from Faqous, said it had become almost impossible to find a gas cylinder, adding that even retailers were selling to their relatives and friends, while prices had climbed to LE 20 per cylinder.
