Hyderabad: Due to the timely action taken by the locals, a major fire mishap near the Medchal bus depot was averted after gas leaked from an LPG pipeline.
Early on Tuesday morning, when the local residents woke up, they observed the strong smell of LPG. They realised that the entire area was engulfed in gas leaking from the underground main pipeline of the Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd, which supplies domestic gas to individual residential houses in the area. This happened just a few yards away from a petrol bunk along the highway.
Locals immediately alerted both the fire department and the gas company, who in turn reached the spot and fixed the leak.
Mohd. Khaja, a local resident, said, “In the morning, there was a strong smell of gas in the entire area. We realised that it could spark a major fire, and immediately called up the fire department for fire tenders. We also called the customer care number of Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd. and the local police.”
The company officials said the gas leakage had occurred after a resident began digging to lay the foundation of his house.
A representative of Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd, on condition of anonymity, said, “There are signboards of the pipeline passing underground. Despite that, a local resident was using a JCB for digging in an adjacent area. The JCB hit the MDPE (medium density polyethylene) pipeline and perforated it. However, within 15 minutes of being informed our technicians reached the spot and fixed it.”
G. Ramulu, sub-inspector, Medchal police station, said, “The company (BGL) has put up signboards along the pipeline and they regularly make rounds of the area. However, the incident might have occurred at night. When the locals called, the technicians reached the spot in no time and fixed it.”
