Govt takes notice of substandard CNG kits

Vehicle examiners told to remove substandard CNG kits.

LAHORE:

The Home Department on Tuesday issued a circular to various officials directing them to check CNG kits installed in public service vehicles. The circular was issued by Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, the additional secretary in charge of internal security, who directed the officials concerned to issue fresh fitness certificates to public transport vehicles after checking the CNG kits installed in them.

Twenty-eight people have died and twenty-two have been injured in four incidents of cylinder blasts.

The Punjab government also directed the additional secretary on Tuesday to constitute a committee in every district comprising the regional transport authority secretary and a motor vehicle examiner, to supervise the inspections.

The circular instructs the officials to remove sub-standard kits. The notice was taken after a news story, which reported that the incidents took place due to substandard CNG cylinders and kits. The report stated that five passengers died and nine were injured on December 18 when the CNG cylinder on a Faisalabad-bound van exploded near Khurarrianwala. On December 10, a van on its way to Vehari caught fire in a CNG leak killing 14 passengers and injuring six. On December 3, a pick-up truck burnt after its CNG cylinder exploded at Mashilah CNG pump near Multan, killing two people. On November 29, 12 people died and seven were injured when a van’s CNG cylinder exploded after it ran into a sidewalk in Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2011.