Travel at your own risk: Court tells authorities to keep an eye out for faulty CNG kits

Officials suggest banning route permits for vehicles without certified gas cylinders.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered on Wednesday the traffic police authorities and the All Pakistan Transporters Association to comply with the suggestions to remove substandard CNG cylinders that explode, killing various people travelling in public transport.

A division bench, headed by justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, passed this direction while hearing a petition seeking the removal of substandard gas cylinders from public transport following growing number of accidents involving explosions of faulty cylinders. The petition was filed by a civil rights campaigner, Rana Faizul Hasan, who had cited the federal, provincial and the local authorities as respondents.

During Wednesday's proceedings, the authorities came up with various suggestions. An officer, who represented the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), suggested that new route permits should not be issued to any public vehicle unless an official document certifying the CNG cylinder fixed inside has been issued.

The officer said the police and the transporters' representative bodies must be instructed to follow such directives. The officials also came up with a suggestion that no CNG cylinder, which does not meet the prescribed quality standards, should be allowed by the traffic police authorities to be fixed in any vehicle.

The bench issued notices to the secretary of the All Pakistan Transporters Association, Traffic DIG, the Ogra and others to ensure compliance of these suggestions in the future. The judges also ordered them to submit a compliance report.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2015.