ISLAMABAD (APP) - Women living in adjoining areas of Islamabad Expressway facing hours of gas loadshedding on Saturday blocked it to draw attention of the concerned authorities towards very low pressure of gas making it impossible for them to cook food. The traffic remained suspended for hours and the protesters were chanting slogans, demanding the government to resolve problems of the common man including the gas loadshedding. The residents mostly, women were holding placards bearing slogans against low gas pressures and inflation, which has severely disrupted their daily lives. Students have to leave for school without breakfast and same is the case for their parents leaving for work in the absence of natural gas or due to its low pressure, Shaista Bibi said. She said the entire city is facing the gas shortage. However,the hard hit areas are Ghouri Town, Iqbal Town, Kurri Road, Dhoke Kala Khan, Banni Chock,Airport Society, Kohati Bazar and Waris Khan. Arshad Shafiq, an employee a private company in Islamabad who lives in Rawalpindi, said his routine life has been disturbed due to low gas pressure. I have to arrange breakfast for the whole family from hotel due to non-availability of gas in early hours. That is why I reach my office late and my boss has already warned me many times on this count, he said. Farhat Nasim, mother of three children, said she had not cooked any food for the last four days due to non-availability of gas. She requested the authorities concerned to look into the matter and resolve the issue on priority. An official of SNGPL (Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd.) told this news agency that said that the reason for low gas pressure was its increasing demand and less supply. He requested the general public to avoid using geysers and heaters. Meanwhile, the residents of Jhandachichi have been facing gas loadshedding for 16 hours a day for the last three weeks making their life miserable in the chilly weather. Iram Saba, a student of a government college, told this news agency that due to gas loadshedding she and her siblings have to attend their educational institutions without breakfast. She said the gas shortage has severely affected their studies. Naseema Khan, mother of four children, said that she had not cooked any food at home for the last three weeks. She had to buy food from hotels, which was badly affecting the family budget as well as health. Huma Durrani said her recently born baby had fallen ill due to cold as she could not use heater due to non-availability of gas. She requested the authorities concerned to look into the matter and resolve the issue on priority. Muhammad Asghar, an employee of a private company, said he was the only bread earner of his eight-members family. He had to buy wood and coal to cook food and to save his minor children from cold, but sudden increase in prices of those items had disturbed his budget. Fatima, a housewife, said due to gas loadshedding, the vendors were making bucks by selling LPG cylinders at exorbitant prices. She demanded the authorities to resolve the issue immediately.