Mumbai CNG crisis eases as gas supply restored after 48 hours

Fortyeight hours after the CNG crisis first hit the city problems persisted with normalcy expected to return only by Wednesday morning Fuel pump owners told midday that the situation had been improving since Tuesday morning Most CNG pumps including those operated by Mahanagar Gas Limited MGL saw long vehicular queues from early morning Blackandyellow taxis and autorickshaw drivers claimed they waited six to seven hours to refuel compared to the usual 15 to 30 minutes Some appbased taxis switched to petrol as a backup but many of them were forced to stop operationsA queue of autorickshaws at Kurla on Tuesday morning PICSAYYED SAMEER ABEDISeveral pumps faced low gas pressure forcing them to reduce supply or shut temporarily petrol dealers said Mumbai has 152 CNG pumps and many remained closed from Monday morning due to insufficient pressure ldquoA CNG pump requires about 200 bars of pressure of which about 180 bars had been reached by evening Slowly normalcy was attained by late evening On Monday the pressure had fallen below 140 barsrdquo a pump operator saidCommuters stranded at 845 am in Kurla West on Tuesday amid the citywide CNG crisis PICSAYYED SAMEER ABEDIldquoYes They have restored all the pumps now They did it in a phasewise manner First they restored their own MGL pumps then the ones by other operators and then the ones in caskets Now all others have been restored As for clearing the queues of vehicles we will keep the fuel pumps open all night if required By late night or maximum tomorrow Wednesday morning all the queues will be gonerdquo Chetan Modi president of Petrol Dealers Association told middayldquoRepairs of the damaged pipeline that supplies CNG to Mumbai are complete and the repaired conduit is being tested Once the testing is complete supply will resume and normalcy will prevail Supply is expected to be restored in the next hour or sordquo officials had told midday on Tuesday afternoonA petrol pump at Tardeo in South Mumbai after services resumed around 612 pm PICSHADAB KHANAccording to MGL the issue began on Sunday when the main supply pipeline of GAIL was damaged by a third party inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers compound at Trombay This reduced the gas flow to MGLrsquos City Gate station at Wadala a key point for CNG supply across the city suburbs Thane and Navi Mumbai According to sources the gas supply was restored between 330 pm and 4 pm on TuesdayPicNimesh DaveAn MGL statement issued late on Tuesday claimed that rectification work of GAILrsquos damaged main gas pipeline had been completed and gas supply to MGLrsquos City Gate station has been restored ldquoThe gas supply to the affected CNG stations in Mumbai Thane and Navi Mumbai had been restored Restoration of gas supply to affected Industrial amp Commercial customers is in progressrdquo the statement readA chaotic scene unfolds at a petrol pump in Borivli West at 945 am on Tuesday PICNIMESH DAVESeries of unfortunate eventsSunday afternoonGAILrsquos main supply pipeline was damaged by a lsquothird partyrsquo inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers compound at TrombayMonday morningThis drastically reduced the gas flow to MGLrsquos City Gate station at Wadala a key point for CNG supply across the city suburbs Thane and Navi MumbaiA pressure gauge at a fuel pump in Borivli indicates a pressure below the normal 200 bars around 6 pmMonday afternoonMost of the CNG pumps that operate at a pressure of 200 bars saw a pressure drop of 140 Of MGLrsquos 389 CNG stations in MMR only 225 were operationalTuesday morningLegions of autos and taxis queued outside petrol pumps throughout the night to refuelTuesday afternoonPumps start being restored and the pressure was around 180 bars not yet 100 per centTuesday eveningAll pumps were restored and queues started clearing