Gurgaon: The rush to expand the piped natural gas network is colliding with basic safety norms in the city, corporation engineers have warned.Under pressure to move households from LPG to PNG amid energy supply constraints linked to the West Asia conflict, gas agencies are laying pipelines “recklessly” and in violation of standard procedures, damaging water and sewer lines in the process and disrupting civic services. The engineers have told TOI.According to them, trenchless digging methods mandated for such work are being bypassed and manual excavation is being done instead, sharply raising the risk of hitting existing underground utilities. The concern comes as govt pushes PNG adoption to ease pressure on LPG supplies.“Senior officials of gas agencies laying their networks in the city will be called for a meeting. In the rush to lay pipelines, they are damaging our infrastructure and not complying with norms at all. We will send them notices for the damage caused,” MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said.The corporation said it has already received at least three formal complaints about repeated damage to pipelines, including from Sector 15 and Palam Vihar. Executive engineer Sandeep Sihag said the agencies were summoned on Monday and given three days to comply. “We have received three complaints where water and sewer lines were damaged. If they do not follow norms and execute the work properly, we will issue notices and take action,” he added.In Palam Vihar, ward 4 councilor Pardeep Kumar Padam said the damage was repeated within hours. “The agency damaged a water pipeline while working in E Block on Tuesday. It affected water supply. I got it fixed, and when I went there, they damaged the second line again that very night. I am still at the site with the MCG junior engineer getting the work done,” he told TOI.A former councilor and Sector 15 resident also said the work was being carried out without accounting for utilities already laid underground. “I have raised the issue with MCG,” he added.Engineers said one of the most serious lapses involves ground penetrating radar survey, or GPRS, which is meant to map underground infrastructure before digging starts. “In some cases, GPRS surveys are not being conducted at all. In others, even when they are done, the findings are not followed. If a survey shows a water line at 3 feet and the gas pipeline is to be laid at 5 feet, but that is not adhered to, damage is inevitable,” an engineer said.Officials also flagged possible financial and regulatory violations, saying agencies in several cases had not deposited the required Rs 6 lakh per km fee or furnished bank guarantees even as work continued. MCG has so far granted right-of-way permission for 58km of PNG expansion.Haryana City Gas denied any such breach. “We are following all norms and there is no non-compliance. If any water or sewer line is damaged, our contractors repair it immediately,” a company representative said.He added that, given the urgency, the company was working “on a war footing” under directions from the Center and state.A total of 24 right-of-way (ROW) permissions have been granted by GMDA over the past month, covering 33km across the city, officials said. The city has 10.2 lakh domestic LPG connections, against 83,603 PNG connections — 21,692 with Indraprastha Gas and 61,911 with Haryana City Gas.
