Dubai: The heat is on for residents in Dubai’s Al Khail Gate to switch from gas stoves to electric cookers after the developer banned the use of gas cylinders in the community.
Dubai Properties announced a ban on using cooking gas in the community last week, almost a month after a deadly explosion due to a gas leakage in an apartment. An elderly Indian woman died and her daughter in her thirties was critically injured in the blast that blew away the walls of their flat and partially damaged two other apartments in the same building as well as an adjacent building. The younger woman is still in ICU at Rashid Hospital.
The community has 9,000 apartments.
Following the ban, residents in phase one of the community are in the dark about what to do as their apartments are not supported with electric sockets to connect electric cookers. However, some tenants living in phase two buildings equipped with electric sockets have started switching to electric cookers while several others remain sceptical.
Retail stores near Al Quoz area have already reported a spike in demand for electric cookers and some companies have started offering special discounts for Al Khail Gate residents if they buy the products in bulk.
Rajesh Balachandran, sales manager for Whirlpool Corporation Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the company’s distributors in areas close to the Al Khail Gate community have received a high number of inquiries for electric cookers in the past few days.
Tenants said the management has not announced any grace period to discontinue the use of cooking gas. Neither has it stopped the gas supply companies from delivering gas cylinders to apartments.
Since last week, however, gas cylinder delivery men were being stopped by the security guards who insist on the tenants signing an undertaking that they are buying gas at their own risk and will be responsible for any safety issues in future.
However, a security guard on Wednesday said the management informed them not to call the tenants down after receiving several complaints. “We have been asked to just note down the apartment number and the details of the gas delivery guy from today,” he said.
Some tenants said they are contemplating submitting mass petitions to the developer since they do not have any clear idea about how to handle the crisis.
“We were already facing a lot of issues here like lack of parking space, spike in AC bills after the meter was introduced and some nuisance by bachelors. Now this is the latest concern. We neighbours are planning to give a written complaint to the management,” said Murtaza Hussain, who lives in phase two.
When contacted by Gulf News, Dubai Properties issued a statement saying it encourages tenants to refrain from using gas cylinders in Al Khail Gate as per community guidelines.
“For the safety and security of all Al Khail Gate residents we advise all tenants not to utilise gas cylinders due to the hazard they pose in case of any misuse. We do this by regularly educating tenants on the community guidelines stipulated in their tenancy contracts, and it is critical that they strictly uphold the terms of their contract.”
The developer added that its property management teams and tenants must work together for the community’s overall safety and security.
Safety concerns
Some tenants in Al Khail Gate said the suppliers of electric cookers have raised concerns about the connected load in the community having the capacity to support the use of electric cookers.
“When I went to check electric cookers, I found out that we will require a socket with approximately 40 ampere rating to use the cooker in its full capacity, that is for using all the burners when required,” said an Indian electrical engineer living in phase two.
“But the capacity of the socket provided in phase two apartments is only up to 20 amperes. That means if anybody uses all the plates together, it could cause an overload, power tripping and other electrical safety issues. The electrical safety hazard looks more dangerous and likely to happen than a gas safety hazard over here,” he said.
The service manager of an electric appliance company also echoed his view.
V. Pillai, another resident who works in the construction sector, said when he raised this issue with the property management, he did not receive any clear answer. “I am just afraid we are going to face more safety hazards by switching to electric cookers,” he said.
Dubai Properties did not respond to Gulf News’ question on this.
