Pipeline Damage Cripples Mumbai's CNG Supply, Restoration Expected Tomorrow

CNG pumps in Mumbai witnessed long queues for refuelling on Monday after a major gas pipeline was damaged, disrupting supply and affecting thousands of autorickshaws, taxis and other CNG-run vehicles.

Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) said compressed natural gas supply to pumps in the financial capital will be restored by Tuesday noon. It also said nearly 60 per cent, or 225 of the 389 CNG pumps supplying gas to the megapolis, are operational.

"Due to the stoppage of gas supply in CGS Wadala, and thereby the MGL pipeline network, a few CNG stations in Mumbai, Thane, and Navi Mumbai are not operational," MGL said in a statement, which came after reports of widespread inconvenience to people in the city.

"The rectification work is in progress and the restoration of gas supply is expected by tomorrow, i.e. by 18th November 2025, noon," it added.

The utility reiterated that the piped natural gas supply to homes has been on.

Several CNG pumps in the city have remained shut since morning due to low gas pressure, a representative of a local petrol dealers' body, however, said.

A large number of autorickshaws and taxis, including those operated by aggregators like Ola and Uber, and some buses run by public transport undertakings in the city, rely on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) supplied by MGL.

In a statement issued on Sunday night, MGL said the disruption occurred due to third-party damage to GAIL's main gas supply pipeline inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) compound, affecting flow to its City Gate Station (CGS) at Wadala, a key entry point for gas supply to Mumbai.

Mumbai has 130 to 140 CNG pumps, including MGL's own facilities. Many CNG pumps in the city have been non-functional since morning due to low gas supply pressure, Petrol Dealers Association (Mumbai) president Chetan Modi told PTI.

"I have kept my own pump shut since morning as there is no (gas supply) pressure," Modi said.

Anil Garg, leader of a school bus operator's body, also said their operations were hit due to the CNG shortage.

"Many school buses in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region are facing problems in getting CNG," Garg said, adding that they have been forced to combine the school bus routes.

He claimed that around 2000 school buses have halted due to CNG unavailability, causing losses to operators as they are forced to use luxury buses from private contractors paying Rs 12000 for two trips of 10 kilometres.

The MGL said it has prioritised supply to residential consumers to ensure uninterrupted Piped Natural Gas (PNG) availability to households.

It advised industrial and commercial consumers in affected areas to switch to alternate fuel until restoration.

"Gas supplies across MGL's network will normalise once the damage is rectified and supply is restored to CGS Wadala," MGL said, while regretting the inconvenience caused.

Leaders of unions representing black-and-yellow taxis and autorickshaws claimed drivers spent a longer time in the CNG pump queues due to the outage.

Mumbai Taximen's Association leader DA Salian said, "Today some taxis were on the road as they had refilled CNG yesterday, but as they have exhausted it, the majority of taxis may remain off the roads on Tuesday." He said only a few pumps were operational in the city, but they were lacking the required pressure. Hence, drivers spent three times more time than normal in queues, he added.

Shashank Rao, leader of Mumbai Autorickshaw-Taximens Association, wrote to Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik and demanded that he direct MGL to pay compensation for drivers losing two days' income.

A petrol pump dealer said several cabs, especially those with Ola and Uber, were operated on petrol due to a shortage of CNG.

"However, most black-and-yellow cabs have had the petrol option removed to avoid extra maintenance costs. As a result, they were unable to bring their cabs on the roads in the absence of CNG," the dealer said.

Mumbai has around 398 CNG pumps spread in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Of these, 152 pumps are within the jurisdiction of Mumbai city.

Sucheta Utale, public relations officer of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, which has around 1,250 CNG buses in its 2,700-strong fleet, said operations were unaffected due to the CNG supply.

"There has been no impact of CNG on BEST bus operations," Utale replied in a text message on Monday evening, but did not give details.

Sources, however, said many BEST buses could not turn out of the depot on time and were also forced to cut short routes due to the affected CNG supply at some of the undertaking's depots.

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