Claiming prior intimation and on-site coordination with Green Gas Limited (GGL), a telecom company on Thursday alleged that an underground Piped Natural Gas (PNG) pipeline was damaged during excavation work for laying communication lines, disrupting gas supply for nearly 40 hours in several city localities.
The damaged pipeline affected supply in Ashiana, Bangla Bazar, LDA Colony, Kanpur Road and adjoining areas, leaving thousands of residents without cooking gas for almost two days before services were restored following repair work and safety inspections.
Srinivasan Udandrao, spokesperson for Bharti Airtel, alleged the incident occurred despite prior coordination with GGL officials. He claimed the gas company had been informed in advance through email and had deputed a patrolling team to supervise the excavation work.
“We always work in coordination with utility agencies. We mailed GGL requesting joint patrolling and details regarding the exact alignment and depth of pipelines. Their patrolling team was present at the site and instructed us to dig at a depth of around 3.20 metres using a horizontal drilling machine,” Udandrao said.
Ambuj Tripathi, contractor of Balaji Enterprises engaged in telecom-related digging, alleged his team used underground scanning equipment to detect buried utilities before excavation and followed directions given by GGL representatives present at the site.
“The patrolling team had charts with them and our workers followed their instructions. Suddenly, the PNG line was damaged. This was not our fault because the GGL team itself did not have accurate knowledge about the depth and alignment of the pipeline,” he alleged.
Tripathi further claimed his workers later helped locate the damaged section after the rupture when the gas company team could not immediately trace the fault.
“We even called a specialist from Kanpur to trace the damaged point,” he said.
The incident has raised concerns over coordination between utility agencies and private contractors during underground excavation work, particularly regarding mapping and sharing of underground utility data.
Meanwhile, GGL said the matter is under investigation. Praveen Kumar, deputy general manager of GGL, said PNG pipelines are usually laid at depths of 1.5 to 2 metres, but may go deeper than 3 metres in areas with multiple underground utilities such as power cables.
“It may have been one such case. The matter is being probed and appropriate action will be taken after the investigation,” Kumar said.
Residents in affected localities reported inconvenience as cooking gas remained unavailable for nearly two days, affecting daily routines and household work.
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