GGL chairman, top officials booked for Agra building fire

AGRA: Chairman of Green Gas Limited (GGL), Delhi, was booked along with seven other company officials on Tuesday for their negligence and reportedly poor maintenance of an underground gas pipeline that caused fire in a car workshop on August 28. The GGL is a joint venture of GAIL and IOC and supplies PNG for domestic use in the city.
The accident took place when a fire broke out in a building in Dayalbagh, where a car workshop and a LPG gas distributor’s office are located.Though no loss of life was reported in the incident, the building was badly damaged.
Superintendent of police (SP) Agra, Prashant Verma, said that the FIR was registered on the basis of the complaint filed by a local resident, whose gas agency was located in the same building. He said that the matter is being investigated in detail and further action will be taken on the basis of the report.
The FIR was lodged by Pranshu Dubey, a resident of Dayalbagh’s Alora Enclave, whose office was located in the building. A case was registered against eight persons including company chairman, secretary and director under section 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of IPC at New Agra police station.
Talking to TOI, the complainant, Dubey said that he was not in his office, when the accident took place, but when he reached there, he saw that the fire had spread and reached till the basement. He claimed that two explosions occurred in the car workshop due to the fire and it damaged the material and a major part of the building.
He added that luckily no person was injured in the accident, but financially it was a big loss to him. He alleged that the company officials are responsible for this incident, as a complaint of leakage of gas from the pipeline was registered with the company by some local residents.