Hyderabad: A gas pipeline of Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd (RGTIL) passing through Medak district cracked causing huge gas leakage and subsequent fire at Maddigunta village near Zaheerabad on Monday early morning. As the fire erupted, the Medak police, under the leadership of district SP B. Sumathi evacuated the nearest colony and started attempts to control the fire.
After a six hours efforts, fire-fighters, Reliance special team and police managed to control the fire and gas. Medak police said nobody hurt in the incident.
The pipeline, which goes to Bharuch in Gujarat from Kakinada RGTIL gas plant, has few Main Line Valves in different parts of Medak. The officials said that a crack in a Valve located at Maddigunta must have caused the leakage.
“Officials from Mumbai alerted the local police after the got an alert. They have a centralised alarm system, which helped them to get the alert. A police team immediately reached at the spot and evacuated the SC colony situated near the pipeline,” said Medak SP Ms. Sumathi. She added that around 150 people must have moved to the nearest village.
Three fire tenders came to the spot for fighting, however, use of water and fume did not help extinguishing the fire for hours. A special maintenance team from RGTIL came and stopped the gas flow by closing two valves situated at Zaheerabad and Patancheru to reduce the pressure.
‘Pipeline in Maddigunta is located between Zaheerabad and Patancheru. They closed valves at these two places and interrupted the gas pressure. They also pushed back the gas to Kakinada, and the fire came under control,” said an official.
However, gas leak had spread panic in villages surrounding the reliance gas pipelines in the districts and also stalled gas supply to Gujarat.
Medak police have booked a case and started an investigation.
