LPG pipeline not a threat to villages: HPCL

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has claimed that the proposed 165-km pipeline for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Uran, near Mumbai, to Shikrapur via Chakan in Pune district will not pose any safety hazard for villages along its route.
This was revealed to DNA by the senior regional manager HPCL, PN Kanth, on Sunday. He was speaking in response to concerns raised by villagers at a public hearing on the issue on May 19.

The district collectorate conducted the hearing, on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project, at Meera Mangal Karyalaya in Chakan. The pipeline will pass through 32 villages in the talukas of Khed, Maval and Shirur.

During the hearing, attended by officials of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and resident district collector, Anil Pawar, the villagers raised concerns about safety and land acquisition. They fear losing large areas of land for the project. Moreover, LPG is highly inflammable and the villagers would be
under constant threat.

Kanth allayed the fears of the villagers, stating that the proposed pipeline has been routed mostly through barren land, away from habitation. “Only a fraction of the pipeline would be laid near some villages, yet that should be no cause of concern for anyone,” he said.

He said that to avoid residential areas, the pipeline was re-routed by a few extra km. It would be run 1.5 metres underground with suitable safety precautions in place. “The pipeline will run underground, so no land acquisition will be necessary. In fact, once the work of the pipeline laying is done, we will level the ground. The only restriction on the usage would be that no construction would be allowed on that patch of land, but normal agriculture will be permissible,” he said.

In particular, Kanth mentioned that the gas will be conveyed in a double pipeline mechanism with 17 block valves for safety. “Regular patrolling will be done along the pipeline, to avoid any
incidents,” he said.

This pipeline would also ease the traffic pressure on the Pune-Mumbai expressway as the need to supply LPG through tankers would be done away with. “The traffic bottlenecks on the expressway will not exist. Moreover, in case of a tanker turning turtle, the expressway has to be shut to traffic for several hours. All these problems will be history once the pipeline is laid,” he said.

Pawar had said the district collectorate will submit its report to the Union ministry of environment and forests and once the clearance is obtained, work will start on the laying of the pipeline.