india

Updated: Sep 21, 2019 03:08 IST

The Mumbai civic body has summoned officials of gas agencies and chemical companies in the city to resolve the persisting mystery of a gas smell that spread panic among residents of several areas on Thursday night. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday.

Alarmed by the foul smell, residents from Chembur, Ghatkopar, Tilak Nagar, Andheri, Kandivli, Kurla,Powai, Goregaon, Mira Road and other suburban areas called up the fire brigade and the Mumbai Police, while some others took to Twitter. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management cell received a total of 29 calls on Thursday night about a possible gas leak.

On Thursday night, nine fire engines that were rushed to locate the source of the alleged gas leak returned without success. However, emergency vehicles of piped-cooking-gas-supply company, Mahanagar Gas Limited, continued to patrol the areas to figure out the source of the smell even on Friday. Sachin Phad, a Tilak Nagar resident, said, “Around 10 pm, I had just got back home from work when my neighbor approached asking me to shut off cooking gas if it was left unattended. I had not. We alerted all residents of our building but it was not confirmed if the smell was emanating from a particular house. Some even called the fire brigade and the disaster management cell to inform them. In the next 15-20 minutes, the smell was gone but everyone in the building was panicky.”

An official statement from Mahanagar Gas Limited said, “Since late evening, MGL has been receiving complaints of gas smell from various parts of Mumbai. Our emergency teams have spread out to sites from where complaints have been received. So far, we have not come across any breach in our pipeline system which could result in leakage of gas.”

The Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF), too, rejected speculations that its Chembur plant could have been the cause of the smell. “A strong rumor has been doing rounds about gas leak in Powai, Chembur, Chakala, and Goregaon up to Mira Road. Some people have alleged that the gas leak happened in the Trombay unit of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited . However, there is no incidence of gas leakage in any of the RCF Plants. Even Mumbai Police, Fire Brigade and NDRF teams visited RCF Trombay Unit and found no gas leakage and declared everything is normal. All RCF plants are running normal as per standard operating procedures,” said a statement by the company.