Long queues for refuelling were witnessed across CNG pumps in Mumbai due to damage to a major gas pipeline, which disrupted supply and impacted thousands of autorickshaws, taxis and other CNG-run vehicles for the past two days. The transportation system across the city was heavily paralysed due to the disruption, which also led to a massive hike in auto fares.
Facing major issues, officials have now shared an update about the resumption of the CNG supply across pumps. All CNG supply had resumed across all fuel stations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region at 3:45 pm, they said.
What caused the disruption?
Mahanagar Gas (MGL) informed that the disruption was caused by a stoppage of supply in the CGS Wadala, and thereby the MGL pipeline network. This disrupted CNG stations across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region has around 398 CNG pumps. Of these, 152 pumps are within the jurisdiction of Mumbai city. CNG pumps with low pressure were forced to either reduce dispensing or shut operations temporarily, petrol dealers said.
CNG disruption did not affect bus services in the city. Sucheta Utale, public relations officer of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), said operations were unaffected due to the CNG supply. BEST has around 1,250 CNG buses in its fleet.
{{/usCountry}}CNG disruption did not affect bus services in the city. Sucheta Utale, public relations officer of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), said operations were unaffected due to the CNG supply. BEST has around 1,250 CNG buses in its fleet.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, Mahanagar Gas (MGL) had informed that the disruption to the CNG supply was caused due to a stoppage of supply in the CGS Wadala, which affected the MGL pipeline network. This led to the massive disruptions across the CNG pumps in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
Notably, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has around 398 CNG pumps, out of which 152 pumps are located within Mumbai city.
The disruption, however, did not impact any bus services across the city, officials said. Sucheta Utale, public relations officer of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), said earlier that the bus operations remained unaffected. BEST has around 1,250 CNG buses in its fleet.
How CNG crisis affected Mumbai
For the past two days, queues of people lined up at some of the operational CNG pumps across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai as autorickshaws, taxis, school vehicles and app-based cabs rushed to get the limited CNG supply available.
A few petrol dealers told PTI that pumps which had low CNG pressure were forced to either lower dispensing or shut operations temporarily.
While some app-based cabs had the option to switch to petrol, a majority of black-yellow taxis were forced to stop operations since they had removed their petrol option.