Gujrat tragedy: Supreme Court seeks reply from industries ministry

Hearing adjourned till 13th; OGRA ordered to finalise policy on gas cylinders.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) has sought a reply from the Ministry of Industries on the government’s policy on the use of gas cylinders in public transport vehicles.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday issued notices to chief inspector of explosives department of the ministry to submit his reply till June 13 and adjourned the hearing of a suo motu case on a gas cylinder explosion that caused a fire in a school van in Gujrat on May 25, killing 16 schoolchildren and a female teacher.



Advocate Afnan Kundi, appearing on behalf of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), informed the bench that the government had formed a 13-member task force headed by the authority’s chairman to formulate a policy on standards that should be adopted for use of gas cylinders in vehicles. Kundi added that examination of the cylinders’ fitness was the responsibility of the industries ministry, not Ogra.

“The relevant department appears to have kept the court entangled in the intricacies and complexities instead of addressing the real issues,” observed Chief Justice Chaudhry. Invaluable human lives have been lost owing to the negligence of the authorities concerned as they apparently failed to discharge their duties, he remarked.

The chief justice also directed Kundi to present Ogra’s stance on the policy implementation on cylinders.

On Wednesday, a commission set up to investigate the tragedy had submitted a report before the court.



ICT to crack down on substandard gas cylinders

In a related development, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration on Thursday decided to initiate a crackdown on public transport vehicles carrying substandard gas cylinders.

Islamabad’s Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Ali held a meeting with representatives of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Ogra, All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) and Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP).

Ali informed the participants that transporters were required to obtain CNG fitness certificates from authorised workshops set up at six venues across the capital, failing which they risked having their vehicles impounded by the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP).

Ali added that the ICT administration had set June 15 as the deadline for acquiring the certificates but was compelled to launch an early crackdown following an Islamabad High Court order a few days ago. He also said that the capital’s filling stations would be issued strict warnings against the sale of petrol in cans.

HDIP representative Imran said that the standard operating procedures for cylinder installations had been issued, which the associations had been informed about. “Cylinders must be fitted behind the vehicle’s rear seat. Pick-up vans should install one cylinder, while wagons and mini-buses should install two and three cylinders respectively. The cylinders must be changed every five years,” he said.

Imran said that the certificates would only cost vehicle owners Rs1,000 and that a sticker would be pasted on the windscreen, cylinder and engine as confirmation. He added that four more workshops would be established to facilitate transporters.

The gas station owners’ representative Abbas said that there were 133 certified workshops across the country from which the certificates could be obtained.

Meanwhile, RTA representatives held Ogra responsible for the crisis, citing their lack of consistency. “We have been holding meetings with Ogra officials for the last two years but they have yet to constitute any rules regarding the installation of gas cylinders,” alleged Safdar, an RTA official.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2013.