Bangladesh, July 8 -- Bangladesh is losing more than Tk6,000 crore worth of gas annually because of theft, illegal connections, pipeline leakages and administrative failures, even as households struggle with acute gas shortages and industries face mounting production disruptions.

An analysis of government accounts and minutes of high-level meetings at Petrobangla shows that gas worth around Tk6,382 crore is lost each year through excessive system loss and mismanagement.Government

Officials say that, after deducting the 2 per cent technical loss permitted by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), the remaining losses largely stem from theft, illegal use, leakages and weak oversight.

The findings emerged during a recent pol...