Flouting rules: Rejected CNG cylinders flood market
Under safety rules, 6,500 such cylinders were to be confiscated.
ISLAMABAD:
Over 6,500 rejected and substandard compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders, made by Worthington Cylinders Austria, have flooded the market to be installed in vehicles, increasing the risk of fatal explosions and putting the lives of people in danger.
Reliable sources told the Express Investigation Cell (EIC) that the sale of thousands of rejected cylinders imported from Austria is indicative of the apathy of the concerned government departments, in particular the ministry of industries and explosives department. As per the Mineral and Industrial Gases Safety Rules, 2010, the explosives department was supposed to confiscate such cylinders and destroy them to prevent them from being sold in the market for use in vehicles or for storage purposes at CNG stations.
Instead it has shown criminal negligence and ignored the matter for four years, allowing those in possession of the substandard cylinders to continue selling them. Cylinders made by Worthington were rejected in 2008, yet traders have sold the entire stock of 6,500 and are being used in many vehicles.
Despite this, the explosives department has remained mum over the issue and its officials are making relentless efforts to suppress facts over the dangers of these cylinders.
Chief of the explosives department, Hussain Channa sent a statement to the EIC via short messaging service (SMS), showing complete disregard to the facts and figures available in the official record of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the explosives department. Despite around 100 people killed by the use of the outdated cylinders, Channa claimed that not a single cylinder has ever exploded since the introduction of the use of CNG as vehicular fuel.
His statement totally contradicts a number of letters written by his own department to Ogra on the number of CNG cylinders that have exploded, like those in Mandi Bahauddin and Lahore in Punjab and Karachi and Mirpurkhas in Sindh.
“CNG kits [and] not cylinders were a basic cause of explosions in wagons and other vehicles. The concerned district authorities and secretaries of transport have been asked to stop the installation and illegal conversion of CNG kits,” Channa said in his statement.
After a series of deadly explosions in 2006, Worthington-made CNG cylinders were officially declared substandard and dangerous for storage as well installation in vehicles. A subsequent Petrotech London’s test report also confirmed Pakistan’s official point of view that Worthington-made CNG cylinders did not meet the required standards.
Economic Fuel, a small Islamabad-based trading firm, had imported the 6,500 cylinders in 2006. Since the period in question witnessed a mushrooming growth of the CNG sector in Pakistan, the entire stock was sold in less than one year. By December 2007, the cylinders were available at hundreds of CNG stations for storage. Since 2008, over 100 innocent people have died due to explosions, which occurred at CNG storage facilities and in vehicles.
Ogra officials said all explosions that occurred at CNG stations in Mandi Bahauddin, Karachi and Lahore were caused by Worthington-made CNG cylinders, which resulted in the recalling of the entire stock from the market, besides a ban on importing them.
“We had summoned [the] Dubai-based Austrian diplomat and Worthington Industries’ representatives to Islamabad and conveyed [to] them the government’s decision of recalling Worthington’s substandard cylinders from the market,” a senior Ogra official said.
Ghias Paracha of the CNG association acknowledged that these cylinders had made their entry into the market again. He said the government should take strict action against all those who were responsible for not confiscating and destroying them.
“I know that cylinders which were recalled a few years back are being sold and used in public vehicles,” Paracha concluded.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2012.
Correction: An earlier version of this article carried an incorrect stock photo of cylinders. Those cylinders are not used in vehicles. The error is regretted.
Over 6,500 rejected and substandard compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders, made by Worthington Cylinders Austria, have flooded the market to be installed in vehicles, increasing the risk of fatal explosions and putting the lives of people in danger.
Reliable sources told the Express Investigation Cell (EIC) that the sale of thousands of rejected cylinders imported from Austria is indicative of the apathy of the concerned government departments, in particular the ministry of industries and explosives department. As per the Mineral and Industrial Gases Safety Rules, 2010, the explosives department was supposed to confiscate such cylinders and destroy them to prevent them from being sold in the market for use in vehicles or for storage purposes at CNG stations.
Instead it has shown criminal negligence and ignored the matter for four years, allowing those in possession of the substandard cylinders to continue selling them. Cylinders made by Worthington were rejected in 2008, yet traders have sold the entire stock of 6,500 and are being used in many vehicles.
Despite this, the explosives department has remained mum over the issue and its officials are making relentless efforts to suppress facts over the dangers of these cylinders.
Chief of the explosives department, Hussain Channa sent a statement to the EIC via short messaging service (SMS), showing complete disregard to the facts and figures available in the official record of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the explosives department. Despite around 100 people killed by the use of the outdated cylinders, Channa claimed that not a single cylinder has ever exploded since the introduction of the use of CNG as vehicular fuel.
His statement totally contradicts a number of letters written by his own department to Ogra on the number of CNG cylinders that have exploded, like those in Mandi Bahauddin and Lahore in Punjab and Karachi and Mirpurkhas in Sindh.
“CNG kits [and] not cylinders were a basic cause of explosions in wagons and other vehicles. The concerned district authorities and secretaries of transport have been asked to stop the installation and illegal conversion of CNG kits,” Channa said in his statement.
After a series of deadly explosions in 2006, Worthington-made CNG cylinders were officially declared substandard and dangerous for storage as well installation in vehicles. A subsequent Petrotech London’s test report also confirmed Pakistan’s official point of view that Worthington-made CNG cylinders did not meet the required standards.
Economic Fuel, a small Islamabad-based trading firm, had imported the 6,500 cylinders in 2006. Since the period in question witnessed a mushrooming growth of the CNG sector in Pakistan, the entire stock was sold in less than one year. By December 2007, the cylinders were available at hundreds of CNG stations for storage. Since 2008, over 100 innocent people have died due to explosions, which occurred at CNG storage facilities and in vehicles.
Ogra officials said all explosions that occurred at CNG stations in Mandi Bahauddin, Karachi and Lahore were caused by Worthington-made CNG cylinders, which resulted in the recalling of the entire stock from the market, besides a ban on importing them.
“We had summoned [the] Dubai-based Austrian diplomat and Worthington Industries’ representatives to Islamabad and conveyed [to] them the government’s decision of recalling Worthington’s substandard cylinders from the market,” a senior Ogra official said.
Ghias Paracha of the CNG association acknowledged that these cylinders had made their entry into the market again. He said the government should take strict action against all those who were responsible for not confiscating and destroying them.
“I know that cylinders which were recalled a few years back are being sold and used in public vehicles,” Paracha concluded.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2012.
Correction: An earlier version of this article carried an incorrect stock photo of cylinders. Those cylinders are not used in vehicles. The error is regretted.