BMC comes up with SOP after 3 gas leak incidents in Mumbai

Following three incidents of a mysterious gas leak reported in Mumbai over the past one year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now mobilised agencies

Following three incidents of a mysterious gas leak reported in Mumbai over the past one year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now mobilised agencies like fire brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to collect air samples if such incident is reported in future. The BMC has prepared a standard operating procedure (SOP) to chalk out roles of different response agencies during a gas leak. The SOP is yet to be finalised by the municipal commissioner.

HT Image

In the past one year, three incidents of the mysterious gas leak have been reported in Mumbai, putting Mumbaikars in a frenzy, as its source has still not been identified. The only aspect which is common between all three incidents is that majority of the complaints which poured in are from the same set of areas (Chembur, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Vikhroli, Mulund), the eastern suburbs.

During the probe of these incidents, there were some key decisions made that stated that all companies dealing with hazardous materials should intimate about their functioning to the disaster management cell and fire brigade. Secondly, the transportation of the chemicals needs to be informed beforehand to the concerned authorities depending on their locations and that there should be specific timings for the transportation of hazardous chemicals within the city. A strict tracking and monitoring of vehicles carrying such materials were also decided. All of this is being included in the new SOP.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (disaster management), said, “The NDRF has the equipment to collect air samples, however, the fire brigade will procure the same equipment to be ready for another such gas leak. The samples could be tested which would narrow down our search. As per complaints, the gas leak has not stayed for more than 15 minutes in the air which is why it has been difficult to detect the source of the leak.” For starters, the plan is to set up these sample collecting units one each in the island city, eastern and western suburbs.

Rakesh Kumar, director of CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), said, “Since it’s not a continuous foul smell, it’s difficult to detect its source. But there should be a mapping of all residential and commercial pockets in areas where these complaints are frequent. Then, we need to map all smaller storage where chemicals are kept to find out if any illegal activities are being carried out.”

Despite the denial of leakage by several petrochemical factories located in Chembur, a probe set up into finding the source of the gas leak by the BMC stood inconclusive. The probe panel included experts from IIT, Fire Brigade, NDRF, University Institute of Chemical Technology (UICT) and petro-chem representatives.

There are multiple theories behind this mysterious gas leak. One of the most prominent theories is that a tanker carrying chemicals to or from one of the several petrochemical factories in Chembur could have leaked while it was passing through the eastern suburbs. A senior official from the Mumbai Fire Brigade said, “There is a chemical odorant (ethyl mercaptan) that is added to cooking gas so that it’s easy to detect leaks since the gas is otherwise odourless. The odourant is transported through vehicles which could have leaked accidentally. There was another speculation of gases emanating from sewer lines which is unlikely.”

The first such incident was reported in September last year wherein 47 complaints were made to the disaster management cell. Following that in June, a similar incident was reported and a pharma company in Govandi was believed to have been the source, but it was soon ruled out following an investigation by the fire brigade department in the firm’s premises and the nearby areas.

On October 17, BMC received seven complaints about foul odour, akin to a gas leak, from parts of Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Govandi and Bhandup, Mulund, Bhandup, and Powai. However, the BMC could not find the source of the leak and categorised it as an ‘unknown foul smell’. During all three incidents, authorities had alerted the petrochemical factories, mostly located in Chembur, to check their premises but no leak was reported by them. Experts and BMC officials have finally hinted that a sample collection of the foul smell is the only hope to detect the source of the mysterious gas leak incidents in Mumbai.