An alert resident prevented civic agencies from cutting a road in HSR Layout in the middle of the night, under which a GAIL pipeline runs. After GAIL engineers stepped in, the work was stopped, averting a major accident.
Last April, a fire broke out in Garvebhavipalya near HSR Layout due to leakage from a GAIL pipeline. The incident fresh in his mind, Kamesh Rastogi stopped in his tracks close to midnight late on Thursday when he saw workers starting to cut through the road in HSR Sector 2.
“I asked them what the road was being cut for and they seemed unaware that a gas pipeline was under the road,” said Mr. Rastogi.
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When Mr. Rastogi informed GAIL officials of this, they quickly reached the spot around 1 a.m. and got the work stopped. “If the pipeline was damaged surely it would caused leakage. Any agency undertaking road cutting needs to inform us, so we can send a technician there who can guide them,” said GAIL Joint Engineer Biswabhushan Harichandran.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Engineer Sahibanna said that as there was blockage in the sewer line coming from an apartment complex, the apartment association had taken permission and requested the BBMP to undertake the road-cutting and subsequent repair work.
However, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) refused to take the blame for the incident, although it had given permission for the road cutting. “GAIL has published details of areas it has laid pipelines as well as put up notification boards on every road. It is the contractor's mistake to start road cutting without checking this,” said BBMP AEE Murlidhar.
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