Panchshila Park: Dangerous Gas Leaks in S & N Block

On 27th December, a substantial gas leak was reported at S 114 by Ms Leila Kabir Fernandes. The technician came in 3 hours and discovered the cause to be a shrinking/breaking of rubber valves at the regulator installed outside the house. On 1st January, a similar leak took place at N 178 from the regulator. The complaint this time was attended to within 90 minutes and the regulator replaced. We wonder if this sudden increase in cases has to do with a softening of their 6-monthly audit by IP Gas during and after the Covid period, or perhaps the extreme winter over the last few years that is damaging the rubber valves. Indraprastha Gas has immediately responded with a schedule to thoroughly inspect the colony pipeline and take corrective action. Another issue that surfaced is that most of the numbers to be called, written on the panel provided by them in the homes, are defunct now. In a real emergency, this can easily lead to panic. We discovered that Panchshila Park now falls in the Pushp Vihar centre’s service area and were advised to call 844858824/25 for a faster response time of 30-60 mins. in future, instead of dialling their standard customer care number 1800-102-5109, when the response time could be 90-180 mins. IP Gas must replace all panels with old numbers and carry out a comprehensive immediate audit plus regular preventive checks, before anything more disastrous befalls the colony. (Contributed by Vinit Taneja)