As the country heads towards the cold spell at the beginning of the new year, heightened tension is reported to exist among the gas distributors and the workers at the Enemalta bottling plant at Qajjenza.

This increased tension seems to stem both from the dangers inherent in the bottling plant, which is old (dating back some 20 years) and which is still very much manually-operated and prone to approximation.

But the distributors are also angry and tense because while they were promised they would be working indoors, and with automated machinery, they are still forced to handle each gas cylinder manually.

Some new “improvements” made recently also seem to have backfired, as the distributors face longer waits to get their cylinders.

The reason for the manual handling, at least according to the distributors who have spoken to this paper, is that this is the only way for them to gauge whether the defective bottling plant mechanism has filled up the cylinder as it should be or left it half empty. The defective bottling plant mechanism may also on occasion over-fill some of the cylinders, which could constitute an even greater danger in those households which do not put the cylinders in an open yard or balcony and especially in heated indoor places.

Singer Enzo Gusman recently caused a sensation when he warned listeners to his radio show to weigh the cylinders they purchase because there have been many occasions when these have been found to be rather empty. In his jocular way, Mr Gusman said that if any listener feels s/he can handle the cylinder with ease, this may not necessarily be because s/he has grown stronger, but rather because the cylinder is half-empty.

This seems to have hit the mark with listeners, and the distributors say that Enemalta is facing some eight to 11 complaints and returned cylinders a day.

The distributors and the Enemalta workers are asking if the authorities at the Qajjenza plant have reported these complaints to head office and, if so, what is being done about them.