Piped gas to home: Pipes unloaded in Patna

PATNA: Work is on in full swing for laying a pipeline to supply piped natural gas (PNG) to households in Patna as part of the Centre’s ambitious Jagdishpur–Haldia and Bokaro–Dhamra Pipeline project.
With the deadline for commissioning the project in the city being October this year, 100-odd workers under the supervision of a team of experts are working 24X7 at different locations, including Gandhi Maidan area, Fraser Road and Bailey Road to lay the pipes. The pipeline across the city will be of approximately 25km to cover 1200 houses in the first phase. Gandhi Maidan is the zero point from where the work was initiated.

Two private firms have provided the manpower to execute the work in Patna. One of them is Aquatech Engineers Private Limited.

Aquatech’s senior executive Arvind Kumar said on Thursday the work was currently underway on the road stretches between Gandhi Maidan and Jagdeo Path (around 3km), Gaighat and Gurdwara Pahila Bara (around 5km), Gaighat and Zero Mile near Transport Nagar (around 3km), Kankerbagh and Kumhrar (around 3km) and Zero Mile and Nagla (around 3km).

Another firm is working on the 8km stretch from Saguna Mor to the Patna zoo.

Bundles of pipes for the purpose have been unloaded off the roads in the city. “The pipes have been unloaded after inspection by the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) officials and with permission from the state transport department, road construction department, energy department and building construction department,” Kumar explained.

Work on stripping and welding these pipes — each 12 metres long — has also begun. “We have expedited the work in view of the coming monsoon,” Kumar said and added they would start laying the pipes under the ground within a week.

The pipes will be laid by two methods: by digging the roads or by horizontal directional drilling (HDD). “We will adopt the HDD method for most of the road stretches in Patna except a small portion of road near the Bihar Museum on Bailey Road,” Kumar said.

HDD is a method of installing underground pipes or cables along a prescribed path by using a surface-launched drilling rig with minimal impact on the surrounding area. The method ensures minimum inconvenience to commuters, according to Kumar.

The material for the project is being provided by the GAIL. Officials from GAIL and Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants (India) Limited inspect the progress of work on regular basis.