Road and rail traffic came to a standstill on old Mumbai-Pune highway after leakage from an LPG tanker that turned turtle near Kamshet on Tuesday.

Trains switched to diesel engines in the nearby railway line due to the potential threat from overhead high tension wires. People living within the radius of one kilometer were evacuated, and domestic gas cylinders shifted out of the area.

Tuesday’s was the second such scare in just three days. The city had an even bigger gas leakage-led panic on Sunday when gas from a container in a train carrying LPG from the HPCL plant in Uran to Bhilwadi started leaking near Khadki. Although the leak was controlled soon after, there was widespread fear among people at the city railway station.

According to a government resolution issued in 1996, it was mandatory to form district level disaster management committees to tackle accidents caused by gas leakages.

But despite the fact that a committee for Pune district was formed in 2002 by the then collector, it became inactive after a couple of meetings, said Chadrasen Borhade, chairman of a voluntary organisation Ranjai working in the field of environment.

Taking a cue from the fire at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depot at Jaipur that was doused after 11 days, Borhade has demanded revival of the Pune district disaster management committee to tackle accidents caused by gas, oil and chemical leakages.

Proximity of a railway track to the petrol depots at Loni Kalbhor, about 25 kilometres from Pune, adds to the need of an active disaster management committee in the district.

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