Cylinder blasts: Court seeks report from OGRA by Feb 28

Wants to know what action has been taken against CNG kits’ makers.

LAHORE:

Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to submit a report about the action the authority has taken against manufacturers of sub-standard CNG cylinders by February 28.

The judge, on December 26, had sought a report from the federal and Punjab governments. When he asked for the reports on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Nasim Kashmiri informed him that Ogra was the authority taking action against substandard cylinders’ manufacturers.

Petitioner lawyer Rana Mehtab submitted in court that 44 people had lost their lives in two weeks after substandard cylinders fitted in public transport vehicles exploded.

He submitted that there were 3.2 million vehicles running on CNG and almost 35 per cent of them had sub-standard cylinders.

He said that the government departments concerned were guilty of negligence because they did not check the quality of cylinders. He requested that those responsible for cylinder explosions be punished and compensation be given to the victims’ families. He also requested that directions should be issued to the government for taking immediate action against cylinder manufacturers and sub-standard installation workshops.

The petitioner named chief secretary, Punjab Transport Authority chairman, IGP, petroleum ministry, OGRA, and chief inspector of Explosives and Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan as respondents.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2012.