There was panic and chaos among residents as the bylanes of the congested Garvebhavipalya near HSR Layout seemingly caught fire on Saturday afternoon.
Around 1.45 p.m., a stretch of road between Garvebhavipalya and Bandepalya, off National Highway 44, erupted in flames. The area, where Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has laid its pipelines, was also seeing the laying of a sanitary line by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).
A fire tender and a vehicle from GAIL were deputed at the spot, and the fire was put out in a half hour. No injuries were reported.
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According to a GAIL spokesperson, BWSSB workers damaged the pipe which saw a leakage of gas that ignited.
“The fire was minor and there was no danger of it escalating. Gas supply was also not affected. BWSSB workers had dug close to the pipes despite the markers we have put and despite warning boards,” said the spokesperson.
With this being the first such incident since GAIL started supplying piped gas to households early in 2016, officials said they were taking no chances and will circulate details of the pipelines and their locations to all civic agencies to prevent any more accidents.
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Over the next five years, GAIL will lay over 2,000-km of underground pipes throughout the city. BWSSB officials said their sanitary lines was being laid all along the gas pipeline as there was “no space” for works. “Workers were providing a cross-connection to an apartment nearby when the GAIL pipeline must have been nicked. It was our contractors who immediately called up GAIL,” said an executive engineer.