The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has kick-started repair work on the underground pipeline connecting the well PS-43 following gas leakage from the underground facility, near Maamidikuduru village in the Konaseema region, in East Godavari district.

Local residents alerted the ONGC-Thatipaka facility authorities about the gas leak on Friday evening, and it was later plugged.

According to ONGC-Thatipaka installation manager T. Srinivas, the gas leaked from the pinhole of the underground pipeline on Friday evening. The site where the leakage was reported is barely 300 metres from a local petrol outlet.

The repair work of the underground pipeline facility commenced on Saturday with the consent of the local farmers. The Revenue authorities had been roped in enumerating the damage of the land to offer compensation to the farmers, ONGC authorities said.