MULTAN, April 14: Local authorities of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd are apprehensive about the safety of the transmission line between Uch in Bahawalpur and Jalalpur Pirwala in Multan districts, it is learnt.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that the Multan region authorities of the SNGPL recently informed the law-enforcement and security agencies that the 45-mile Uch-Jalalpur transmission line was in a vulnerable position in the backdrop of frequent attacks on gas installations during the last three months.

The SNGPL authorities sent a report to the federal interior ministry through the petroleum ministry after the attacks on pipelines near Mazari Goth in Rajanpur district in January last.

The report contained details about transmission line spots towards the Punjab which were vulnerable to attacks. The spot which was attacked on April 8 near Bhutta Wahan village of Sadiqabad tehsil was also mentioned in the report.

Sources said the SNGPL was finally informed about the shortage of police personnel and advised to depute armed guards instead of watchmen at the sensitive points.

They said after the Sadiqabad blasts the police authorities concerned were again requested for the security of three open transmission lines on Abbasia Canal near Uch. This area was pointed out as the next probable target of saboteurs, but the Bahawalpur police declined to provide security. There were reports that the saboteurs had links in the Uch area.

Meanwhile, a three-member special investigation team has reportedly submitted its preliminary report to the authorities concerned.

Sources said the investigation team had agreed to the SNGPL view that the Sadiqabad blasts were an act of sabotage.

The team visited the site on April 10. It was constituted by the federal government to probe causes of the pipelines blasts.

Ministry of petroleum’s director gas Khushal Khan, Lahore UET’s professor of metallurgy Prof Dr Faizul Hassan and explosives expert Maj Tabassum constitute the team.

Sadiqabad police authorities were of the view that the blasts were the result of an ‘accidental leakage’ because of decaying gas pipelines.

SNGPL authorities had said that during the last 40 years, there had been only five incidents of natural gas leakage or disruption of supply. The gas installations came under attack seven times during the last three months.