After pipeline blast, GAIL slams BWSSB

A day after a GAIL Gas pipeline leak triggered a blast and injured two people in HSR Layout, the company faulted the BWSSB for failing to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) while carrying out its manhole repair work.

A senior GAIL official said the civic agency failed to intimate them and ended up damaging the pipeline which, he said, was “a punishable offence”. GAIL has highlighted these issues in a complaint filed with the HSR Layout Police Station.

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The SOP, the official told DH, requires GAIL to be informed about civil works and clearance has to be sought for their execution; and work should be undertaken only in the presence of company officials.

Under the state government's direction, GAIL has shared the SOP with all Bengaluru's utility agencies.

In the event of a mishap, official(s) present can cut the gas supply either with squeeze-off tools or isolation valves fitted every kilometre of the medium-density polyethylene (MDPE) pipelines.

Under the Petroleum and Mineral Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006, any damage caused to the gas pipelines is a punishable offence. GAIL Gas is directed to file a complaint during such an incident.

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The official said the contractor created a "bigger problem" by trying to plug the leak with soil and an earthmover bucket.

This, the official said, caused the gas to seep into the house. “If he had simply let the leak be, the gas would have disseminated into the air and not have caused such a huge accident,” he said.

Not isolated

This is not the first time GAIL has had run-ins with Bengaluru's civic agencies, notorious for their lack of coordination while executing civic projects.

According to data accessed by DH, between 2015 and 2023, GAIL Gas filed 13 FIRs against civic agencies for unauthorised digging and causing damage to its pipelines.

In 2018, the Urban Development Department issued a circular directing all government and non-government agencies to intimate GAIL before taking up any digging work in areas with gas pipelines.

For additional safety, GAIL Gas has also installed RCC markers every 50 metres along the gas pipelines and warning markers every 500 metres to indicate where the charged gas pipelines are laid.

BWSSB Chief Engineer (South) S V Venkatesh admitted that the contractor and the engineers were at fault. “They assumed that there wouldn’t be a pipeline inside the manhole and began the work. There were no markers either to indicate the presence of the pipeline. So they accidentally damaged the pipeline, causing it to leak,” he said.