After 48 hours of a struggle for citizens, auto drivers and cabbies over the CNG gas crisis; complete normalcy expected by Wednesday morning
Agripada’s streets painted yellow and black around 1.30 pm on Tuesday. PIC/SHADAB KHAN
Forty-eight hours after the CNG crisis first hit the city, problems persisted, with normalcy expected to return only by Wednesday morning. Fuel pump owners told mid-day that the situation had been improving since Tuesday morning. Most CNG pumps, including those operated by Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL), saw long vehicular queues from early morning. Black-and-yellow taxis and autorickshaw drivers claimed they waited six to seven hours to refuel, compared to the usual 15 to 30 minutes. Some app-based taxis switched to petrol as a backup, but many of them were forced to stop operations.
A queue of autorickshaws at Kurla on Tuesday morning. PIC/SAYYED SAMEER ABEDI
Several pumps faced low gas pressure, forcing them to reduce supply or shut temporarily, petrol dealers said. Mumbai has 152 CNG pumps, and many remained closed from Monday morning due to insufficient pressure. “A CNG pump requires about 200 bars of pressure, of which about 180 bars had been reached by evening. Slowly, normalcy was attained by late evening. On Monday, the pressure had fallen below 140 bars,” a pump operator said.
Commuters stranded at 8.45 am in Kurla West on Tuesday amid the citywide CNG crisis. PIC/SAYYED SAMEER ABEDI
“Yes. They have restored all the pumps now. They did it in a phase-wise manner. First, they restored their own MGL pumps, then the ones by other operators, and then the ones in caskets. Now all others have been restored. As for clearing the queues of vehicles, we will keep the fuel pumps open all night if required. By late night or maximum tomorrow [Wednesday] morning, all the queues will be gone,” Chetan Modi, president of Petrol Dealers Association, told mid-day.
“Repairs of the damaged pipeline that supplies CNG to Mumbai are complete, and the repaired conduit is being tested. Once the testing is complete, supply will resume and normalcy will prevail. Supply is expected to be restored in the next hour or so,” officials had told mid-day on Tuesday afternoon.
A petrol pump at Tardeo in South Mumbai after services resumed, around 6.12 pm. PIC/SHADAB KHAN
According to MGL, the issue began on Sunday when the main supply pipeline of GAIL was damaged by a third party inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers compound at Trombay. This reduced the gas flow to MGL’s City Gate station at Wadala, a key point for CNG supply across the city, suburbs, Thane, and Navi Mumbai. According to sources, the gas supply was restored between 3.30 pm and 4 pm on Tuesday.
Pic/Nimesh Dave
An MGL statement, issued late on Tuesday, claimed that rectification work of GAIL’s damaged main gas pipeline had been completed, and gas supply to MGL’s City Gate station has been restored. “The gas supply to the affected CNG stations in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai had been restored. Restoration of gas supply to affected Industrial & Commercial customers is in progress,” the statement read.
A chaotic scene unfolds at a petrol pump in Borivli West at 9.45 am on Tuesday. PIC/NIMESH DAVE
Series of unfortunate events
Sunday afternoon
GAIL’s main supply pipeline was damaged by a ‘third party’ inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers compound at Trombay
Monday morning
This drastically reduced the gas flow to MGL’s City Gate station at Wadala, a key point for CNG supply across the city, suburbs, Thane, and Navi Mumbai
A pressure gauge at a fuel pump in Borivli indicates a pressure below the normal 200 bars around 6 pm
Monday afternoon
Most of the CNG pumps that operate at a pressure of 200 bars saw a pressure drop of -140. Of MGL’s 389 CNG stations in MMR, only 225 were operational
Tuesday morning
Legions of autos and taxis queued outside petrol pumps throughout the night to refuel
Tuesday afternoon
Pumps start being restored, and the pressure was around 180 bars, not yet 100 per cent
Tuesday evening
All pumps were restored and queues started clearing
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