Fix leakages in oil pipelines: BMC to MbPT

Taking serious cognisance of the massive fire that broke out in a oil pipeline carrying petrol in the Sewri area of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) on Saturday, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Monday asked the port trust authorities to carry out a thorough check-up of the all the pipelines in the area. 

According to sources, Mehta has directed the MbPT authorities to submit a certificate to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to certify that the numerous oil pipelines present in the area are in a proper condition and that the leakages in the pipelines are taken care of. In a meeting between the stakeholders on Monday, Mehta asked the MbPT authorities to submit the certificate in a month. 

Leakages in oil pipelines in the area is a common problem and is generally attributed to oil thefts. The BMC commissioner had also asked the MbPT authorities to carry out regular patrolling and monitoring all the oil pipelines. 

Saturday's fire took place in a pipeline carrying petrol outside Castrol oil depot. The leakage was spotted in the morning, following which operations were stopped and work on fixing the leakage was on. Prima facie, the fire had started because of static electricity generation and continued in the residual fuel in the pipeline for hours before it was doused. 

The fire fighting operation on Saturday went on for nearly 15 hours. It started in the afternoon and was nearly controlled by late evening. However, around 2am, the fire flared up again and a brigade call had to be announced to contain the fire. 

A senior civic official said there should be periodical communication between the stakeholders and the BMC and that the stakeholders should have a proper standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with such disasters. The official added that the BMC should also be aware of their exact logistics so that the fire brigade is also prepared to help them in any such disaster.