In a relief to lakhs of motorists in Mumbai and its adjoining areas, the supply of CNG to the Mahanagar Gas Limited's key entry point at Wadala in the city was restored on Tuesday afternoon, two days after it was disrupted due to damage to a major gas pipeline.
The situation is likely to normalise from Wednesday, an office-bearer of a petrol dealer's association said.
The Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) said the disruption began on Sunday after third-party damage to GAIL's main supply pipeline inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) compound hit gas flow to MGL's City Gate Station at Wadala.
As a result, CNG pumps across Mumbai and neighbouring areas witnessed long queues on Monday and Tuesday.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, the MGL said rectification work on the damaged main pipeline had been completed, allowing the Gas Authority of India (GAIL) to resume supply to its Wadala station.
"The gas supply to the affected CNG stations in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai has been restored," MGL said, adding that the restoration of gas supply to affected industrial and commercial customers is in progress.
Chetan Modi, president of Petrol Dealers Association (PDA, Mumbai) told PTI that the CNG supply to almost all the pumps has been resumed and the situation is expected to normalise from Wednesday morning.
"We have requested our members to keep their pumps operational overnight if required so the motorists, who have been suffering since the past two days, can refill the CNG tanks of their vehicles," he said.
The CNG pumps, including those operated by the MGL, saw long queues from early morning - particularly of black-yellow taxis and autorickshaws - with several drivers reporting wait times of three to four hours, compared to the usual 15 to 30 minutes.
On Monday evening, the MGL said nearly 60 per cent, or 225 of the 389 CNG pumps supplying gas to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, remained operational, and full restoration was expected by Tuesday noon.
"I have been waiting in the CNG pump queue since 4 am and I still don't know when my vehicle will be refilled, as there are scores of taxis ahead of me," taxi driver Sitaram Rajak told PTI.
He was waiting in the long queue at the Tardeo MGL CNG pump for refilling. Rajak said he wanted to refill CNG early, hoping to earn well with fewer cabs operating on the roads.
The Piped Natural Gas supply to households remained unaffected during the period.
On Monday and Tuesday, long queues were seen at several operational pumps across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai as autorickshaws, taxis, school vehicles and app-based cabs scrambled for the limited CNG supply.
Pumps with low pressure were forced to either reduce dispensing or shut operations temporarily, petrol dealers said.
Mumbai city has around 150 CNG pumps, and many of them remained non-functional since Monday morning due to low gas pressure, according to the Petrol Dealers Association.
Some app-based cabs switched to petrol, but a majority of black-yellow taxis, which removed their petrol option to reduce maintenance costs, had no such fallback and were forced to halt operations, the dealers said.
The MGL, in its earlier statements, said it had prioritised supply to residential consumers and advised industrial and commercial users in affected pockets to shift to alternate fuel until full restoration.
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