
It emerges that the ill-fated tanker did not meet the safety standards of the company that owned and operated it, never mind the Ogra 2009 technical standards for road transport vehicles. The reaction of the transport industry to suggestions that sanctions may be quickly imposed is to throw up its collective hands and demand at least two years to bring vehicles into compliance. It appears that Ogra wants to take a hard-line stance, being now acutely aware of the dangers plying our roads — which rather begs the question as to what was Ogra doing prior to this accident that allowed such a situation to develop and persist for years at a time? With the oil industry going into defensive siege mode and threatening a dry-up of some oil products in the event of a crackdown by the regulatory body, there is going to be a significant threat on the roads for years to come. There is at least the possibility of another accident on the scale of that outside Ahmedpur East, and smaller incidents are by no means uncommon. And where does the blame lie? Everywhere, nobody emerges with a shred of credibility.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2017.
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