A gas leak from a GAIL pipeline near the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district prompted authorities to divert traffic along a 24-km stretch of the highway as a precautionary measure, officials said.
The leak was reported around 5 pm Saturday near Takliwadi in Gangapur taluka, alongside the expressway. The district administration immediately alerted GAIL officials and put firefighting equipment on standby at the site.
GAIL experts shut the valves on both sides of the affected section of the pipeline, allowing the pressure inside it to gradually decrease, the district administration said.
Traffic between chainage 447 and 470 of the Samruddhi Expressway, covering the stretch between Hadas Pimpalgaon and Maliwada, was diverted to the Dhule-Solapur highway, district Collector Vinay Gowda G C said in a release.
Vehicles travelling towards Mumbai were asked to exit the expressway at the Hadas Pimpalgaon interchange, take the Dhule-Solapur highway and re-enter the Samruddhi Expressway at Maliwada.
Similarly, vehicles travelling towards Nagpur were directed to exit at Maliwada, use the Dhule-Solapur highway and re-enter the expressway at Hadas Pimpalgaon.
The district administration and police were monitoring the situation, while efforts were underway to restore normal traffic on the affected stretch at the earliest, officials said.
(With inputs from PTI)