An FIR has been registered against seven employees of GAIL in connection with a fire that broke out at AECS Layout in Bengaluru on Sunday. The fire occurred due to a leak in a pipeline and constable Rudresh Naik who was patrolling the area said that the leak was due to negligence of GAIL officials.
The fire caused panic among residents of AECS Layout's A Block Singasandra on Sunday evening at around 7pm. Rudresh arrived on the spot around 10 minutes later after the police was alerted about the fire. Fire officials swung into action and managed to douse the fire around one-and-a-half hours later.
Meanwhile, Vivek Wathodkar, chief general manager, Gail Gas Limited told the Times of India, “Recently, drainage work was carried out in the area due to which the gas pipe was exposed. Some debris close to the pipeline was set on fire on Sunday evening, which could have caused the fire. We have done initial repairs to the pipeline.”
No injuries were reported as the fire occurred in an open area. Rudresh however filed a police complaint at the Parappana Agrahara police station against senior employees of GAIL.
An FIR was then registered against the officials under Section 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, a GAIL official speaking to The Hindu stated that the pipeline was exposed due to drain work taken up nearby and that a smaller fire had heated up the pipeline before the leak. "Due to the heat from the fire, the pipeline got damaged and there was a leak, which caught fire. Soon after we heard of the fire and leak, we closed the valves", an official from the company told The Hindu.