RCF says no 'gas leak' at Trombay factory in Mumbai; clueless about origin of 'odour', BMC officials to meet tomorrow

A day after reports of unidentified odour prompted rumours of a gas leak at the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited’s Trombay unit, the company issued a statement Friday denying any leakage of gas at its plant in Mumbai.

According to the statement, tweeted by ANI, the RCF said, “A strong rumour has been doing rounds about a gas leak in Powai, Chembur, Chakala and Goregaon up to Mira Road. Some people have alleged that gas leak happened in the Trombay unit of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited. However, there is no incident of gas leakage in any of the RCF plants.”

It further added that even the Mumbai Police, Fire Brigade and NDRF teams, which visited the Trombay plan found no gas leakage and declared everything is normal. “All RCF plants are running normal as per standard operating procedures,” it said.

Rashtriya Chemicals&Fertilizers Limited (RCF): Strong rumour has been doing rounds about gas leak in Powai, Chembur, Chakala, & Goregaon. Some people have alleged that gas leak happened in Trombay unit of RCF. However, there is no incident of gas leakage in any of the RCF plants. pic.twitter.com/QEeYV8va4n

— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2019

Complaints of `gas leak’ from many parts of the city had initiated a search of the peculiar odour’s source. Many residents in Mumbai’s western and eastern suburbs reported an unknown odour late Thursday night, prompting rumours of a gas leak at the Rashtriya Chemical Fertiliser’s plant in the Chembur suburb.

The RCF’s denial has come at a time when officials remain clueless about the source of the odour.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said the odour was reported from Powai, Chembur, Mankhurd, Govandi, Andheri, Chandivali and Ghatkopar areas.

A meeting of senior officials has been convened on Saturday to discuss the issue, the civic body sources said.

A police official said no injuries were reported.

A fire brigade spokesperson said the unknown odour was also reported from areas adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in northern suburb Borivli.

Nine fire engines were sent to various places to find out the source of leakage, the official said.

The Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL), which supplies piped gas in Mumbai, said it had received complaints of gas smell from various parts of Mumbai late Thursday night.

“Our emergency teams reached the sites from where the complaints were received. So far, we have not come across any breach in our pipeline system which could result in leakage of gas,” the MGL said.

A BMC official said, “In order to trace the origin of the reported gas leak, we deployed fire engines at Deonar, Mankhurd, Chembur, Vikhroli, Dindoshi, Vile Parle, Kandivali and Dahisar areas”.

The main police control room received as many as 82 calls within three hours with complaints of a gas leak, a senior official said.

The first complaint came around 8.39 pm on Thursday while the last call was around 11.43 pm.

A team of National Disaster Response Force visited RCF Chembur and other areas in the city but couldn’t find the presence of the gas, he said, adding finally they called off the operations around 3.30 am Friday.

With inputs from PTI