: The second anniversary of the blast in the GAIL (India) Limited pipeline here that claimed 22 lives went off peacefully, but some of the promises made by the Navaratna company to the people of the affected villages are yet to be fulfilled and this is being attributed to the lack of coordination between the district administration, political leaders, locals and the GAIL authorities.
The main complaint of the Nagaram blast victims and their families is that major issues such as construction of a model village, closing the huge hole at the blast site and replacing the pipeline in the vicinity of the village and medical treatment of one or two villagers who were seriously injured in the blast are yet to be addressed.
“We spent Rs. 9 crore towards relief and rehabilitation immediately after the incident and we readily agreed to spend Rs.1.7 crore per annum on development of Nagaram village,” said R.K. Das, who has just taken over as General Manager of GAIL, Rajamahendravaram. He said GAIL would build a model village if the district administration came forward with a concrete proposal. However, GAIL has learnt lessons from the blast and replaced the old pipeline of about 100 km in the first phase in different sections in the KG Basin regional pipeline network with an investment of about Rs. 419 crore. Work has already started for replacement of about 150-km-long pipelines at an estimated cost of Rs. 515 crore.
According to DGM KVS Rao, in addition to the replacement of the pipelines, additional facilities such as knock-out drums, scrubbers, gas de-hydration units have been installed based on expert reports in the network. GAIL has spent Rs. 90 crore towards repairs and maintenance of the pipeline network and a total of Rs. 9 crore towards relief and rehabilitation in the last one year. Recently, GAIL gave Rs. 10 crore to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for skill development.
Further, Gas De-hydration Units (GDUs) at five locations like Mori, Pasarlapudi, Narsapur, Mandapeta and Gopavaram have been installed. Mr. Das said that fortnightly and monthly cleaning and pigging is being done and residue analysis is being carried out at external labs. All mainline valves are remotely controlled and leak detection system is in place besides liquid separators at source points of the pipeline. Electric Resistance (ER) probes, corrosion coupons are installed in all critical pipelines. All-important operational parameters are being monitored round the clock at the Regional Gas Management Centre (RGMC) at Rajamahendravaram through central SCADA system by connecting all pipeline stations through dedicated OFC and other networks. Further, the same data is being monitored at the National Gas Management Centre (NGMC) at Noida.
CSR activities
Opening Skill Development Centre at Nagaram, Tatipaka, supply of medical equipment for the Public Health Centre at Nagaram and CHC, Razole, installation of RO Plants in 40 villages, operating medical van with doctor and medicines, Nagaram developmental works and construction of toilets in schools under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan are some of the initiatives being undertaken by GAIL in the region.
