Fault in CNG pipeline: Commuters rough it out

A technical snag in a natural gas pipeline in Gurgaon left thousands of motorists stranded at CNG pumps in Delhi on Thursday morning.

A technical snag in a natural gas pipeline in Gurgaon left thousands of motorists stranded at CNG pumps in Delhi on Thursday morning.

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Though engineers of the Gas Authority India Limited (GAIL) — the agency that provides natural gas to Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), the sole distributor of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in Delhi — rectified the fault in two hours, long queues of autorickshaws, cars and buses could be seen at several CNG stations till evening.

Also, there were fewer three-wheelers on the road, thus leading to commuters across the city facing lots of problems.

According to a GAIL spokesperson, the problem occurred due to a sudden fall in pressure of the gas in the Gurgaon pipeline.

"As the pressure reduced, the safety mechanism got activated and pressure control valves tripped. It was a mechanical error and was rectified soon," said the spokesperson.

While PNG supply to lakhs of households in the Capital remained affected, the fault cut off CNG supply to more than 125 CNG stations in central, south, southwest, west and north Delhi.

Long queues of vehicles could be seen outside all CNG stations in the affected areas.

"I had to wait in the queue for more than three hours,” said Randeep Singh, a contractor driving a CNG-run car.

"We get CNG supply from two points — ITO and Gurgaon. Since the ITO line was functioning properly, a large number of pumps in east and northeast Delhi were not affected. The problem was rectified within a couple of hours and the normalcy restored," an IGL spokesman said.