Empty Gas Canisters Turned to Better Use
In a sign of the deep energy crisis facing Kyrgyzstan, people in the southern Batken region have found a new use for gas cylinders they fear will never be filled again.
Empty Gas Canisters Turned to Better Use
In a sign of the deep energy crisis facing Kyrgyzstan, people in the southern Batken region have found a new use for gas cylinders they fear will never be filled again.
Alukbu Amirova reports that local blacksmiths are now doing a roaring trade in crafting makeshift wood-burning stoves or “burzhuyki” out of compressed-gas canisters which have lain empty for so long that people are having them converted to a more practical purpose.
Dependent on neighbouring Uzbekistan for supplies of natural gas, the Kyrgyz south suffers chronic shortages of both gas and domestically-generated electricity.
One blacksmith said the cylinders were ideal because they were made out of high-quality steel. There are suspicions that some artisans have become a little too enterprising – going round houses to appropriate canisters that have been left lying around.
Many customers are happy to bring their own cylinders in for a conversion job, though. As one woman told IWPR, “When will I need it again? When is there ever going to be gas in Batken again?”
Dependent on neighbouring Uzbekistan for supplies of natural gas, the Kyrgyz south suffers chronic shortages of both gas and domestically-generated electricity.
One blacksmith said the cylinders were ideal because they were made out of high-quality steel. There are suspicions that some artisans have become a little too enterprising – going round houses to appropriate canisters that have been left lying around.
Many customers are happy to bring their own cylinders in for a conversion job, though. As one woman told IWPR, “When will I need it again? When is there ever going to be gas in Batken again?”
