With natural gas available for barely six hours a day and LPG prices soaring, families in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi are returning to firewood, coal and kerosene to keep their kitchens running as winter approaches.According to a report by The Express Tribune, households are increasingly relying on cheaper alternatives such as discarded furniture wood and sawdust. Residents are also facing steep increases in the cost of LPG cylinders, with a new domestic cylinder selling for PKR13,500 (approx Rs 4644), compared with PKR10,000 (approx Rs 3440) earlier. Refill charges have risen from PKR3,000 (approx Rs 1032) to PKR5,000 (approx Rs 1720), while commercial cylinder refills have nearly doubled to PKR25,000 (approx Rs 8600).The cost of firewood and coal has also climbed. Dry firewood is selling for PKR1,500 (approx Rs 516) to PKR1,800 (approx Rs 619) per maund, while ordinary firewood costs PKR1,300 (approx 447) to PKR1,400 (approx Rs 482). Coal is priced between PKR800 (approx Rs 275) and PKR1,000 (approx Rs 344) per maund, depending on quality, and sawdust costs around PKR700 (approx Rs 240) per maund.Muhammad Faizan, a furniture factory owner, told The Express Tribune that waste wood previously dumped near Nullah Lai was now being collected by residents for cooking. Shehzad Manzoor Kiyani, divisional president of the All-Pakistan Clerks Association, said inflation and unreliable gas supplies had forced government employees to return to firewood and coal. He said households were spending PKR10,000 (approx Rs 3440) to PKR12,000 (approx Rs 4127) a month on LPG.The household crisis comes as Pakistan’s LPG supply faces further pressure. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has raised the official LPG price for November to PKR 294,075 (approx Rs 1,01,138) per tonne, from PKR 279,341 (approx Rs 96,084) in October. The price of an 11.8-kg domestic cylinder has consequently risen by PKR 173 (approx Rs 59) to PKR 3,470 (approx Rs 1,194), taking the official retail rate to PKR 294 (approx Rs 101) per kg.But LPG is reportedly selling for as much as PKR 630 (approx Rs 217) per kg in the open market, while company-operated franchises are charging up to PKR 400 (approx Rs 138) per kg. Ogra said the increase followed a 6.47% rise in Saudi Aramco’s contract price, despite a marginal 0.12% decline in the average dollar exchange rate.LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan chairman Irfan Khokhar said the situation was serious because of the closure of the Iran border. He claimed that at least 70% of Pakistan’s LPG was imported from Iran, with the remaining 30% produced locally, and urged the government to curb market manipulation.Meanwhile, the Pakistan LPG Marketers Association has threatened to shut down businesses from November 16 if the government sidelines the private sector under its proposed LPG policy. Association chairman Ali Haider said the government should retain the sector’s deregulated structure, arguing that the private sector played a major role in imports.Haider said that of around 1.3 million tonnes of LPG consumed, approximately 225,000 tonnes were imported from the Gulf, largely by private companies. In a letter to petroleum minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, the association said the draft policy sent to the prime minister had been prepared without private-sector input and called for complete deregulation of the LPG sector.The association also criticised the petroleum development levy of Rs4,669 per tonne on locally produced LPG under the 2016 policy. The levy was intended to help state-owned entities, including Pakistan State Oil, Parco and Sui Southern Gas Company, import LPG during winter and emergencies. Haider alleged that despite billions of rupees being collected through the levy, these entities had failed to import supplies during the current shortage.