Member of National Committee on Corrosion of Canada Patrick Teevens on Friday said that countries like India should have National Safety Standard Code in dealing with gas pipelines and take corrective steps to arrest corrosion.
Mr. Patrick is in India on a three-day visit on the invitation of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Rajahmundry, to study gas pipeline of GAIL in East Godavari district. He suggested steps to be taken up immediately by the state-owned public sector company, GAIL, to avoid major accidents in future. During his tour, he studied the possibility of internal and external corrosion of the two- decade-old gas pipeline at Nagaram village in East Godavari district which caused the devastating explosion that claimed 22 lives recently.
The explosion on June 27 was the worst one that rocked the Krishna-Godavari basin over the last two decades. He said that there was a need for the government to revisit gas policy and bring changes to suit international standards. He said that scientific outlook among the young engineers was important along with the expertise.
Mr. M.V. Iyer, general manager of GAIL said that Mr. Patrick saw the samples of gas, repair lines, debris of samples, pipelines, testing reports and corrosion in one or two pipes near Mandapeta.
