RAHIM YAR KHAN: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) on Tuesday started repairing the Qadirpur-Bhong natural gas pipeline which was blown up late on Monday night.

The pipeline from Qadirpur field in Ghotki district, which feeds industry and domestic consumers in Punjab via the Bhong Gas Repeater Station, was targeted allegedly by terrorists near the Multan-Sukkur Motorway, some 60km from here.

Sadiqabad Assistant Commissioner Aamir Iftakhar told Dawn that the blast occurred at 10.50pm. He said following the blast, fire extinguishers of Rescue 1122 and civil defence reached the spot between Nawazabad and the Chowk Mahi area.

He said a team of SNGPL engineers also arrived there to control the fire. The pipeline’s 40-foot-long section was affected, he added.

SNGPL’s deputy engineer transmission Mohammad Yousuf told Dawn the repair work would be completed tonight. He said that the pipeline with a 30-inch diameter was providing gas from Qadirpur gas field to Bhong station which also gets supply from Sui in Balochistan.

SNGPL spokesperson Awais Bajwa told Dawn that the fire was controlled on Monday night and gas supply was restored through a substitute pipeline. He said police and other agencies were probing the cause of the blast.

It was seventh such happening in Rahim Yar Khan district since 2003. Four blasts were reported from January to April in 2003. The fifth strike in December 2014 was a major one when three blasts damaged 400 feet of the pipeline which caused gas suspension to many areas in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The sixth terror activity was reported in January, 2019.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2020