‘Gas leak’ mystery remains: Mumbai civic body questions citizens

Days after an unknown gas is suspected to have leaked in over 15 locations, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s disaster management department is quizzing

Days after an unknown gas is suspected to have leaked in over 15 locations, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s disaster management department is quizzing citizens who complained about the leak to ascertain which gas it was.

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Meanwhile, the Central government agency System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) confirmed that their stations at the locations did not detect high level of emissions of gases on Thursday night. The BMC’s air quality monitoring stations (AQMs) also did not detect any spike in emissions.

On Thursday night, the disaster management department received around 37 complaints of a gas leak from over 15 locations. Mumbai Fire Brigade received over 50 complaints. A BMC official said, “We are quizzing the citizens from whom we got complaints on Thursday. There is a set questionnaire drafted, and we are asking them those questions.” Meanwhile, the BMC has also asked for the routes used by containers or trucks of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited , Mahanagar Gas Limited, and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited that were transporting gases on Thursday night in case a moving container had leakage, resulting in the smell at various locations.

Nine city stations of SAFAR at Chembur, Bhandup, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Colaba, Andheri, Malad, Mazgaon, Worli and Borivli did not report any high volume of emissions of gases like ozone, nitrogen dioxide and ammonia as well as particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5).

“Our nine stations did not detect any high or low volume emissions of gases. We cannot ascertain or confirm if it would be some other form of gas,” said Gufran Baig, project director of SAFAR. The BMC’s AQMs at Andheri, Bhandup, Deonar, Khar and Worli can detect sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia and suspended particulate matter. A BMC official said, “On Thursday, our Andheri station was functioning and did not detect unusual emission, nor did our staff experience foul smell.”

On Saturday, the BMC had set up a committee to identify the gas and source of the suspected leak. It will also set protocol for similar incidents in the future.