1. SUNDAY 29 JUNE 2014 | 16 PAGES www.thehansindia.com
VENU K KODIMELA
H
ow safe is the city? The
deadly fire mishap in East
Godavari district that
claimed 16 lives after a gas leak
raises questions over the piped gas
distribution in the city.
Ram Prasad, Assistant Professor,
Malla Reddy Group of Institutions,
said, “Similar fire accidents could
occur on the outskirts of the city as
some gated communities are pro-
vided with Piped Natural Gas
(PNG).”
He questions the safety standards
of the BGL as the gas pipe was laid
about 10 feet below the surface. He
says the line passes over dhabas
and other petty commercial estab-
lishments in the vicinity.
Bhagyanagar Gas Limited
(BGL), an ambitious joint venture
of HPCL and GAIL, commenced
supply of Piped Natural Gas
(PNG) to households and com-
pressed natural gas (CNG) to three-
wheelers and four-wheelers in
2011.
The project envisages laying of
pipelines from mother stations to
the houses on the outskirts of the
city. Today, hardly 1000 households
are roped in against the target of
4.66 lakh households by 2016. The
pipeline works are moving at snail’s
pace due to short supply of gas.
“The BGL is supposed to inform
people about the underground gas
pipeline and maintain emergency
24/7 call centre to attend to their
complaints,” says Vijay Kumar, a
resident of Kompally.
Vijay Kumar, who was secretary
of his gated community, recalled
that the BGL did not return after
we raised queries on safety. “BGL
has failed to allay our fears on fire
mishaps. We wanted to know the
steps to be taken in case of emer-
gency. Then who will monitor the
pipelines? The BGL staff did not
get back to us.”
The BGL pipeline along Med-
chal highway can be identified with
the help of organge milestones and
sign boards. The emergency num-
bers mentioned on the milestones
and sign boards turned out to be
numbers of BGL headquarters. On
weekends and holidays none re-
sponds to the calls of the public.
The oil companies fail to respond
to emergency calls of the public
even as the Union oil ministry
blames lack of a statutory body for
carrying out safety audits of oil and
gas installations across the country.
Suggested caption: Unattended
Piped Natural Gas (PNG) at
Jedimetla village junction on Med-
chal highway.
Mother Station at Pet Basheerbagh
BGL has failed to allay our fears on fire
mishaps. We wanted to know the steps to be
taken in case of emergency. Then who will
monitor the pipelines? The BGL staff did not
get back to us
A protruding
PNG pipeline at
Jeedimetla
village junction
City wakes
up to dangers
of piped gas
City wakes
up to dangers
of piped gas
PEOPLE SPEAK
If there are any issues in the city which are plaguing you which needs to
be brought to the notice of the concerned authorities, you can write to
Hyderabad Hans along with photographs. We will publish the same in our
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-Editor