0
MULTAN, March 2: Technical experts of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited have reported that the Saturday blast of gas supply line near Ghoki in Sindh was also an act of sabotage.
SNGPL engineers who repaired the ruptured gas supply line near Khumbra post of the Ubaro police station told Dawn that unlike the recent blasts of gas pipelines near Mazari Goth, the saboteurs had planted the explosive device on the upper side of the 30 inch Qadirpur gas supply line.
Therefore, one of the engineers said the Qadirpur pipeline went down 50 feet deep under the surface and stuck into sub-soil water. He said this proved a blessing in disguise
as the gas did not catch fire due to water.
The same team of engineers had repaired the pipelines near Mazari Goth in Rajanpur district after Jan 21 and 26 blasts. They said a 48-foot piece of pipe had to be replaced in the Ubaro blast.
The Qadirpur gas supply line was commissioned to ACI-X compression station of SNGPL near Bhong, Rahimyar Khan district, on Saturday evening.
Sui and Qadirpur gas supply lines to the Punjab and upcountry areas assembled at the ACI-X station to form a collective pressure.
SAHIWAL: The Federal government after a high-level inquiry will give exemplary punishment to those responsible for gas pipeline explosion near Obaro.
This was stated by Federal Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Chaudhry Naurez Shakoor Khan while speaking to newsmen at the Jashn-i-Baharan festival.
The minister said an inquiry committee and the interior ministry had been separately probing the incident. He said gas supply to the Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP was partially disrupted.
Northern Gas Pipelines Chief Engineer Amjad Latif and transmission General Manager Khalid Ali Shah were supervising the repairs at the site.
On Prime Minister Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali’s orders, security has been tightened for the supply pipeline networks in the three provinces.
