Gas Stove Poisoning

Nikolai, a municipal services employee in Ashgabat, says that a family - husband, wife and two children - died in the block next door to him several days ago. They were poisoned by gas from the stove. Such terrible accidents take place because Iranian gas heating stoves are of poor quality, and frequently leak gas or fail to react to changes in pressure. The worst thing is gas pressure usually drops at night, when people are asleep and are unable to react to the situation. Nikolai says his department is currently going door to door and removing these stoves.



The reason why people install gas stoves in private homes and apartments without permission, and connect them up to the gas mains by themselves, is that municipal services do not work satisfactorily. The central heating system in residential buildings is virtually out of action. In some districts of Ashgabat, the boiler-rooms were not even started up when the heating season began, as the piping at the district heating plant had decayed and worn out.



As a result, there have been a number of fatalities caused by gas poisoning, and entire families have died. The authorities prepare to cover up this information, but employees of hakimliks [city administrations]and workers at municipal offices go to all residential apartments and remove Iranian stoves wherever they are installed.



An employee of the housing office of the [Ashgabat] hakimlik office says commissions have been set up consisting of hakimlik and housing department staff, district policemen and fire inspectors. These commissions are each responsible for one district, where they visit all apartments and check whether they have unauthorised gas appliances, fires and so on. If they find any appliances, the gas pipes they are connected to are cut off. And if the residents then reconnect the stoves, the commission will remove it without compensation. If residents ask the reason for the checks, the fire inspector replies that it’s part of a systematic inspection.



The housing official says people have got used to the heating system not functioning in the last few years. Heating pipes in urban residential areas were last replaced during the Soviet period, and the city budget has no funding for the major investment it would take to repair the heating system properly.



Residents thus find a solution as best they can. Some install electric heaters, others install the Iranian gas heaters. As the housing official notes, everyone realises this is dangerous - but they have no other choice.