As the death toll in the gas pipeline fire case mounted to 19 in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Gas Authority of India limited (GAIl) suspensed two of its officers and announced a slew of relief measures.

The firm aslo adopted the affected Nagaram village.As part of the relief compensation, the GAIl has handed over an amount of Rs3.89 crore to the district administration. Out of which, Rs20 lakh  will be given to the family of every deceased while Rs50,000 to each of the 19 victims.While a high power committee of the Central Government has launched a probe into the incident on last Friday, the local police have booked a case of negligence against GAIl.

Pending inquiry, Gail has also suspended two senior officials in charge of the regional operations and maintenance of the pipeline network.The series of measures by the gas company were followed by the allegations of  locals that the Gail authorities have ignored the maintenance of pipeline and their complaints of gas leakage which led to the tragedy.

Meamwhile, BC Tripathi, CMD, GAIl said, “GAIl (India) limited deeply mourns the tragic loss of life and property and in the unfortunate incident along the natural gas pipeline of the company at Tatipaka in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh”.The company has nominated Amit Ray, ED, Human Resources, as the nodal officer for coordinating the relief and rehabilitation measures and closely work with local authorities, Government and villagers, he added.

GAIl has initiated several relief and rehabilitation measures in addition to the relief measures announced by the Hon'ble Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas during his visit to the incident site along with Hon'ble Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh.

The company will bear the medical expenses of all the injured persons and will ensure the best possible medical care. GAIl helpdesks have been set up at Apollo Hospital & Trust Hospital at Kakinada, KIMS Hospital at Amlapuram and Balbolini Hospital at Rajahmundry, where the injured are being treated. All facilities were being rendered to the kin of the victims here.

In the case of those permanently disabled, Rs5 lakh for each affected person shall be put in a fixed deposit to enable subsistence benefits through Monthly Income Schemes. A detailed Plan of Action was being drawn up for rehabilitation of the affected persons.   Meanwhile, food and temporary shelter have already been arranged near the affected site The loss of property as well as crops was also being assessed in consultation with the district authorities and GAIl will be extending compensation for the same.

A series of welfare-measures have also been added as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives including construction of permanent houses for the 35 affected families, setting up a skill development centre for local residents. GAIl has also decided to adopt the devastated Nagaram village and develop it as a model village.

In view of the allegations, that the old pipeline was rusting and hence became prone to gas leakage, the company decided to deploy teams for foot patrol of every inch of its pipeline network in Kirshna Godavari basin.  Further, the Internal Audit Group of GAIl would undertake audits to thoroughly check the various pipeline systems across the country and submit detailed report within a fortnight.

A Press release by the company asserted, “GAIl's Tatipaka-Kondapalli pipeline has been certified for safety by various national and international agencies of repute. We follow all statutory and safety guidelines in our operations”.GAIl has constituted an internal enquiry committee headed by Executive Director (Operations & Maintenance). It has also been decided to engage an international consultant of repute to conduct an intensive third-party audit of its pipeline safety systems and other hydrocarbon installations as a precautionary measure.