VASCO
A Sancoale panchayat team led by Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar and PWD officials on Saturday stopped the work to lay a gas pipeline along an internal road at Vidhyanagar colony near MES college, after accusing the contractor that the pipeline was being laid haphazardly.
Local Panch members Nandini Desai and angry locals alleged that the contractor had damaged water pipelines, leaving the area without water supply for several days.
Amid heated arguments, the contractor was directed to stop work and a committee of residents was appointed to discuss with the contractor and work out a solution in the matter.
Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar told reporters that they had no objection to the work as long as the project was carried out properly.
“The contractor took permission from the district magistrate but the panchayat was not informed before executing the work.”
“Gas pipelines are being laid next to water pipelines and there is no gap between the pipelines.
If people need water connections in future, the road has to be dug. If the gas pipeline is damaged, there could be a disaster and the contractor will disappear after doing his job, while the people will blame the Panchayat," said Borkar.
Borkar said the local panch had told the contractor to stop work for the last four days and hence, the contractor was summoned and work was stopped.
"The contractor has not given a layout to the PWD and we have warned the contractor to lay gas pipelines in the area where there are no water pipelines and away from electrical power cables.”
“We have instructed the contractor to stop the work and to meet the PWD and a committee of locals to discuss the layout and resolve the issue. We have also directed the contractor to tar the dug roads after laying the pipelines.”
Ward Panch Nandini Desai said the contractor was directed by the District Magistrate to take permission from the local body.
"The contractor has not informed us and has been damaging water pipelines, leaving the area without water for over 15 days. The contractor is also not cooperating with locals nor is willing to listen to them," said Desai.
Gas pipeline must be away from water pipeline: PWD AE
VASCO
PWD Assistant Engineer Eknath Paste said the contractor has been directed to keep some distance from the water pipeline while laying the gas pipeline and to inform the PWD in case the water pipeline is damaged.
"Water pipelines have been damaged and we have repaired it many times. If we stop them, they resume work after our people leave the site. Our supervisors take rounds to monitor their works,” Paste told reporters at the site.
“The gas pipeline is dangerous because we may have to cut the roads for a new connection and gas pipelines could get damaged. Hence, pipelines must be kept away from water pipelines.”
We had informed them to show us their layout plan before starting their work. We have already warned them that we will direct them to remove their gas pipeline if they are placed above our pipelines or close to our pipeline," said Paste.
