Careless digging damaging pipes: IGL

NOIDA: Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), which sells piped natural gas to households in the NCR, has urged the Nadministration in Noida to take immediate steps to stop unscheduled digging activity in the vicinity of its underground gas pipeline network and remove all encroachments.
In a letter to the chairperson and CEO of Noida Authority, Rama Raman, SSP Preetinder Singh and Noida residents' federation, IGL officials said its gas pipeline network in the city is getting damaged due to uninformed excavation by agencies, thus posing danger to people and property."Agencies do not inform us before digging despite warning sign-markers installed on gas pipeline with 24x7 emergency control room numbers. We are supposed to be informed at 8130995008," said Dilip Kapoor, IGL chief manager.
"At times, these agencies run away from the site after damaging IGL gas pipeline without informing the emergency control room. This is extremely dangerous as there is a threat of leakage or fire in IGL high pressure underground gas pipeline network," he said.
Kapoor said another grave issue that IGL faces is encroachments on the roadsides in Noida. "Tea stalls, eateries, food stalls are rampant across the city. LPG cylinders or kerosene stoves are used either for heating or cooking extensively by these eateries," he said.
He added, "As underground IGL high pressure gas pipelines exist on several such roads in Noida, in case of any gas leakage due to third party damage to IGL gas pipeline, this could be catastrophic and result in a major fire incident. These unauthorized eateries in the vicinity of IGL gas pipeline network must be removed without any delay."