Fire Officer Gill D’Souza inspected the site where piped gas leakage triggered fire along the roadside at Benaulim on Thursday evening. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Leakage from a piped gas line triggered a fire on the roadside at Benaulim on Thursday evening, prompting locals to raise concerns over safety and the upkeep and maintenance of the pipeline supplying gas to a resort.
The Margao fire brigade rushed to Benaulim after receiving a call and extinguished the fire. However, the incident raised several questions among villagers. Locals claimed that the area had been emanating a gas smell over the past few days. They said the smell was a clear indication of a possible pipeline leak that had escaped the attention of company officials, raising serious safety concerns.
Margao Fire Officer Gill D’Souza told the media that the roadside fire was triggered by a gas leak from an underground pipeline running along the roadside. “Locals claimed the leakage might have occurred several days ago, as they could smell gas while passing through the area. The heat might have triggered the fire,” he said.
The fire officer said they were awaiting representatives of Adani Gas to dig up the area and plug the leak. “We cannot say precisely how the leakage occurred until company officials dig up the area and identify the fault,” he added.
After arriving at the site, company officials began digging to locate the fault and plug the leak. They faced a barrage of questions from locals, who demanded to know what system the company had in place to maintain the pipeline. A supervisor was questioned about how the leak had gone undetected if the company had a regular maintenance system in place.
“You cannot expect the public to call you every time there is a leakage. It is your duty to inspect the line at least once a month to rule out such incidents,” a local resident remarked.
