Passenger van explodes at CNG station during refueling

Is there a law to punish transporters using compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in public service vehicles? Monday's explosion of a passenger van during refilling at a CNG station on the Hyderabad Bypass Road has raised this decades-old question once again.

A major tragedy was fortunately averted in Hyderabad - a city that only recently witnessed the loss of 11 lives on November 15 in a blast at an illegally operated fireworks factory - as neither the vehicle nor the station caught fire after the explosion.

There were no passengers in the van and none of the station staff were hurt. The loud bang rattled the entire locality, slightly injuring the van's driver, who was standing outside the vehicle at that moment.

Nevertheless, the sheer force of the explosion tore apart the van's roof panels, side panels, pillars, rear doors and windows. The spokesman for Rescue 1122 said they received information about the incident adjacent to Abdullah Mall on the bypass road at around 10am.

They reached the site with a crane, which swiftly removed the vehicle from the station and parked it a little further down the roadside. Meanwhile, a part of the bypass road was closed to traffic because officials were concerned about any secondary blast from the destroyed van.

The injured driver, identified as Naveed Chandio, was taken to Taluka Hospital Qasimabad. He sustained minor injuries to both legs below the knees but appeared physically stable. The vehicle, bearing registration number JF-9383, had started its journey from Karachi and was heading to Sukkur.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and the Sindh government have banned the use of CNG and LPG as fuel in public transport vehicles. Superior courts have also issued similar orders. However, official apathy toward enforcement and weak punishments in the law have allowed transporters to continue using both fuels with impunity.

An official of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Hyderabad, requesting anonymity, avoided accepting the department's responsibility to take action against the owner of the exploded vehicle for using CNG. "I think the highway police or the district police are better suited to take action or lodge an FIR," he told The Express Tribune.

SSP Hyderabad Adeel Hussain Chandio replied in the affirmative when asked about registering an FIR against the vehicle's owner - and possibly the driver as well. But when asked under which law a case could be registered, he responded, "Examining what can be done."

Under the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Acts, 2021 and 2023, vehicles using CNG or LPG can be fined a maximum of Rs10,000. The latter amendment added short jail terms of five to 20 days for vehicle owners or drivers.