The Parappana Agrahara police have registered an FIR against seven GAIL officials in connection with a fire that broke out on March 24 due to a leak in a pipe at AECS Layout on Sunday evening. Though no one injured in the incident, Constable Rudresh Naik, who was on patrol duty, said in his complaint that the incident was the result of negligence on the part of GAIL officials.
The fire, which broke out at A block Singasandra AECS Layout, caused panic among residents. Naik, who was on his night rounds, received the alert and arrived at the site at 7.10 p.m. On realising the gravity of the situation, he called for additional forces to cordon off the area. It took fire and emergency personnel an hour-and-a-half to put out the fire.
Naik filed a complaint with the Parappana Agrahara police against senior managers of GAIL. An FIR has been registered against the officials under Section 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance).
GAIL officials, however, claim that the fire was caused due to the negligence of civic authorities. “The gas pipes were laid one-and-a-half years ago. Recently, some drains in the area were dug up, which exposed and damaged the pipelines,” said a senior GAIL official.
He added that some rag-pickers had burnt a pile of electric wires to extract metal, near a pipeline.
“Due to excessive damage to the pipeline because of the digging work, there was a leak, leading to the fire,” said the GAIL official.
