Traffic came to a standstill and roads were left (relatively) empty across Mumbai this week amid a major fuel supply disruption. Refuelling queues stretched for hours while commuters were left stranded in many parts of the city. But the situation became an unexpected source of joy for some commuters as they cruised blissfully down “peaceful” roads and reached places in Mumbai far earlier than expected.
Many on social media were seen cheering as they enjoyed “peaceful” commutes through “empty” roads. Others noted that their happiness had soured when they realised the crisis would also affect their day to day lives.
“No CNG in Mumbai due to a pipeline issue. Left home in the morning and the empty roads honestly felt so peaceful. But then it hit me the reason it’s empty is because thousands of taxis are stuck without fuel. My “peace” is someone else’s struggle. Saw a 1 km long line of autos and taxis waiting just to refuel. Reality checks come unexpectedly,” wrote one X user.
“Spoke to my local buddy rickshawala. He was like: Sir finally chutti mili. Kuch nai kar sakta. Ghar gaya, acha laga. Ek do din ka seh lenge. Kaiko faltu me line me lagneka jab acha bahana mila hai,” added another.
“Many have suffered. Some people earn just enough to survive each day. Some need food, some need medicines,” reminded a third.
“Yesterday whole day I was wondering, what and why roads are empty…From Thane to Andheri Versova in just 45 minutes. Didn’t know the reason,” marvelled a fourth.
What is the issue?
CNG supply was disrupted across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region on Monday after damage to a key gas pipeline. The glitch led to long queues and multi-hour wait times at CNG pumps across the city — particularly for black-yellow taxis and autorickshaws. Several drivers reporting wait times of three to four hours, compared to the usual 15 to 30 minutes.
As per Mahanagar Gas Limited, the disruption began on Sunday after third-party damage to GAIL’s main supply pipeline inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers compound hit gas flow to MGL’s City Gate Station at Wadala – a key entry point for the Compressed Natural Gas supply to the city.
Mumbai city has around 150 CNG pumps, and many have remained non-functional since Monday morning due to low gas pressure. Petrol dealers said pumps with low pressure were forced to either reduce dispensing or shut operations temporarily.
Some app-based cabs switched to petrol, but a majority of black-yellow taxis, which removed their petrol option to reduce maintenance costs, had no such fallback and were forced to halt operations. Sources in the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking told PTI that some of its CNG buses were also delayed or forced to curtail routes due to the affected supply at a few depots.