A domestic connection will cost more than Tk 12000, many of them said while talking to this correspondent. It will be costlier depending on the distance of the house from the pipeline, they said.

The charges and tariff are as in Dhaka, which is not affordable to residents of a district town, they said.

A customer will have to pay a fixed charge of Tk 3050 as connection fee, a minimum of Tk 3000 to contractor and Tk 12,00 (equivalent to three months' gas bill) as deposit money and the cost of laying pipe up to his house from the pipeline.

The monthly tariff will be Tk 400 for a single burner, according to sources at the Bogra Town Gas Supply Project.

This is not fair for residents of a district town, many prospective customers said.

The charge for industrial connection is so much that only a handful will afford, some owners of small industries said.

Officials at the Bogra Town Gas Supply Project said they did not receive a single application for industrial connection.

Over 2000 domestic connection forms have been distributed through agents but only 538 applications were received so far, they said.

Prime Minister Begum Khalada Zia may inaugurate the gas connection this month, official sources said earlier.

Bogra town and its suburbs came under gas supply network at a cost of Tk 171 crore. Supply of gas to Bogra was one of the election pledges of ruling BNP.

The authorities will pay for only three metre pipe free of cast. The rest will be charged from customers at Tk 296 per metre. Moreover there will be road cutting charge payable to the municipal authorities.

Industrialist Amzad Hossain Tajma, Managing Director of Tajma Ceramic Industry, said he needs gas to reopen his closed factory.

He said he will have to spend at least Tk 21 lakh for this.

Some other industrialists said their factories now run on furnace oil. They wan to convert those to gas-based ones, this will involve a huge expenditure.

Local BNP leader and former public prosecutor (PP) Advocate Mozammel Haque said he has abandoned plan for having has connection at his house for the time being due to high cost. He said he needs about Tk 15,000 for this.