Bengaluru: Wrongly placed sign gives resident false hopes of gas link

BENGALURU: A resident of Sector 3 in HSR Layout noticed a yellow safety marker carrying GAIL Gas Limited (GGL) markings right outside his home indicating that a PNG line ran under the road. He approached the utility hoping for a new connection.
His application was, however, rejected after preliminary digging in the area made it clear that there was no pipeline running under it.The contractor employed had erroneously installed it there , GAIL claimed.
“The marker, as claimed by a few people, is not fake. It is a genuine GGL safety marker. It has however, been put up in a road which does not have a pipeline running through it — an error on the part of the contractor who was entrusted with the job,” said a GAIL official.
“Three months ago, we issued instructions to all our officers to replace broken or damaged safety markers in the city with new ones. Pipeline works were supposed to be taken up at 15th B Main as per our previous plan. However, BBMP changed the rules last year, which prevents us from carrying out any work on newly asphalted roads for three years. The contractor was not aware of this,” explained the official.
“We have permission to build our network over 100km in HSR Layout. That particular road stretch, however, still does not have a pipeline running under it,” the GAIL official added.
Although GAIL passed the blame on to the contractor, a previous document published by it says: ‘The contractor shall supply, fabricate and install the pipeline markers along the pipeline route. The locations of markers as indicated in the approved drawings shall be treated for guidance purposes only and the exact location shall be based on built drainage and as directed by the company.”.
GGL said all such wrongly installed markers in the city will be removed soon.