Officials clueless about origin of 'gas leak' in Mumbai areas

A day after reports of unidentified odor prompted rumors of the gas leak at a chemical fertilizer plant here, officials remained clueless about its source. A meeting of senior officials has been convened on Saturday to discuss the issue, the civic body sources said.

Complaints of `gas leak' from many parts of the city initiated a search of the peculiar odor's source. Many residents in Mumbai's western and eastern suburbs reported an unknown odour late Thursday night, prompting rumors of a gas leak at the Rashtriya Chemical Fertiliser's plant in the Chembur suburb.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said the odor was reported from Powai, Chembur, Mankhurd, Govandi, Andheri, Chandivali and Ghatkopar areas. A police official said no injuries were reported.

A fire brigade spokesperson said the unknown odor was also reported from areas adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in northern suburb Borivli. Nine fire engines were sent to various places to find out the source of leakage, the official said.

The Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL), which supplies piped gas in Mumbai, said it had received complaints of gas smell from various parts of Mumbai late Thursday night. "Our emergency teams reached the sites from where the complaints were received. So far, we have not come across any breach in our pipeline system which could result in leakage of gas," the MGL said.

A BMC official said, "In order to trace the origin of the reported gas leak, we deployed fire engines at Deonar, Mankhurd, Chembur, Vikhroli, Dindoshi, Vile Parle, Kanivali and Dahisar areas". The main police control room received as many as 82 calls within three hours with complaints of a gas leak, a senior official said.

The first complaint came around 8.39 pm on Thursday while the last call was around 11.43 pm. A team of National Disaster Response Force visited RCF Chembur and other areas in the city but couldn't find the presence of the gas, he said, adding finally they called off the operations around 3.30 am Friday.