Men stand around a burnt-out school bus, after a gas cylinder on it exploded killing seventeen children, on the outskirts of Gujrat. PHOTO: REUTERS
LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, hearing the case of the tragic bus fire on May 25 in Gujrat which killed 19 school children and a teacher, ordered authorities to submit a report of incident on the next date of hearing – June 10.
The petition was filed by Fazal Mahmood Advocate, who made Ministry of Petroleum, Punjab chief secretary, Inspector General (IG) of Punjab Police, Punjab Transport Authority (PTA) and DIG traffic Lahore respondents in the case.
The petitioner submitted that the petroleum ministry allowed the use of gasoline in commercial vehicles, without going into unnecessary details and without any planning and policy.
He said there have been no standards provided for the use of gasoline equipments in vehicles and no criteria has been provided for checking the use of substandard gas cylinders in commercial vehicles.
He maintained that it is the statutory duty of PTA and DIG traffic to check all such commercial vehicles periodically and issue fitness certificates. However, it has been observed that either no such certificates are being issued nowadays or the certificates are issued illegally without any physical inspection, thus resulting into such sad incidents, he stated.
He prayed the court to restrain the use of gasoline in commercial vehicles, and to stop operations of motorcycle rickshaws till some proper and beneficial policies are charted out.
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FYI - Gasoline= Petrol
Do Pakistanis use "MADE IN CHINA" kits for CNG vehicles? I am glad some one took up the issue with the courts. This may reduce future CNG related accidents. Buses that transport school children should have stringent requirements and should be inspected more often.