Autos and taxis did not ply on Mumbai roads due to CNG supply being affected for the third day.

Long queues of autos and taxis were seen at compressed natural gas (CNG) pumps in Mumbai on Tuesday (November 18) to refuel after a major gas pipeline was damaged and supplies disrupted. Today is the third day that disruption in services is being witnessed in the financial capital.

The prices of Ola, Uber and Rapido vehicles are skyrocketing, making it difficult and inconvenient for office goers to go to work.

Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) told CNBC-TV18 that CNG supply to the pumps will be restored by noon. “Our focus is on maintaining smooth supply of PNG (domestic piped natural gas). We have started supply at some petrol pumps, but the pressure is low.”

Ashu Singhal, MD of MGL“We hope normalcy will be restored by today afternoon or evening. We sell about 4 mmscmd (million standard cubic meters per day) of gas in Mumbai, and about 2 mmscmd comes from Wadala station,” he said.

Due to low gas pressure, many CNG pumps in the city are closed since the morning of 17 November. A large number of autorickshaws and taxis, including those operated by aggregators such as Ola and Uber, and some buses run by public transport undertakings in the city, depend on CNG supplied by MGL.

MGL said the disruption was caused by third party damage to GAIL’s main gas supply pipeline inside the National Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) complex, affecting flows to the City Gate Station (CGS) in Wadala, the major entry point for gas supply in Mumbai.

Anil Garg, leader of a school bus operator organisation, told PTI that their operations have been affected due to the shortage of CNG. “Many school buses in the Mumbai metropolitan area are facing problems in getting CNG,” Garg said. He said they have been forced to combine school bus routes.

There are around 398 CNG pumps spread across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in Mumbai. Of these, 152 pumps are under the jurisdiction of Mumbai city.

A GAIL official told CNBC-TV18 that construction activity by a third party led to a puncture in the main line, resulting in gas leakage. The official said, “Our main focus is to restore supplies, then we will start investigating the incident. Usually, there are signboards and other warning signs to ensure that construction activities are not carried out near the supply lines. We will investigate why this construction activity was allowed so close to the line, causing this damage. Our resources are focused on repair and restoration work, and supplies will be restored soon.”