Metro work causes gas line leak in Bengaluru, triggers panic and traffic snarl

GAIL officials alerted the traffic police to divert vehicle movement in the stretch as a precautionary measure.
Metro work causes gas line leak in Bengaluru, triggers panic and traffic snarl
Metro work causes gas line leak in Bengaluru, triggers panic and traffic snarl
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Panic prevailed and traffic was diverted from both directions on the ITPL Main Road in Bengaluru’s Whitefield after a GAIL gas pipeline reported a leak in the early hours of Monday. Traffic officials said the leak was spotted at around 6 am by locals in Garudacharpalya near the  Decathlon outlet. After being alerted, GAIL officials asked the Traffic Police to divert traffic movement in the stretch as a precautionary measure.

 Fire and Emergency Services personnel was pressed into service to prevent any further danger. Gail officials, who restored the pipeline, claimed that the leak was caused due to the ongoing Namma Metro construction work. Regular commuters, who were unaware of the gas leak, was caught stranded at around 7 am near Family Supermarket on the Hoodi-Seetharampalya Road during the busy school hours.

 In a tweet, KR Puram Traffic Police Station, said, “One gas pipeline damaged near Garudacharpalya, Hoodi while digging by BMRCL and the gas coming out...traffic jam in ITPL road. Fire force have came and repair work is going on. We have blocked the vehicles which are moving towards ITPL for the safety of public.”

The traffic police directed Whitefield-bound traffic to the Devasandra Main Road or via Marathahalli, while traffic towards the city was diverted towards Hoodi and Graphite India junctions. Accordingly, the traffic police informed BMTC about the leak to tweak their routes temporarily.

 The leak was fixed around 9.30am after which traffic police on ground cleared the route for regular traffic. Hours after traffic movement, the busy stretch still suffered blocks with part of the road cordoned off as Gail officials continued to carry out some patchwork.

 In a tweet, ACP Traffic East Kasim Raja said,  “Spoke to DGM Senthil Kumar of Gail. GaS leak plugged and he has requested to restore normal traffic. We are restoring both side traffic on ITPL main road.”

This is the second such incident in a week when the Gail authorities have filed a complaint with the police against the BMRCL contractor. The Gail had approached Mahadevpura Police station on October 24 after another leak was reported in Whitefield at Sathya Sai Hospital.

Namma Metro officials could not be reached for a comment.

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