IGP, DIGs told to remove uncertified CNG cylinders from vehicles

Sindh’s IGP, DIGs and all other officials concerned have been ordered to ensure that no substandard CNG kit or cylinder is used in any vehicle, and that CNG cylinders not certified by the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) are immediately removed from all vehicles.

The Sindh High Court’s (SHC) directive came on Thursday during the hearing of Muzammil Mumtaz Meo and Tariq Mansoor’s petitions seeking court orders against the use of CNG kits and cylinders in public transport and school vans.

They also sought action against the police officials whose demand for a bribe from a rickshaw driver had caused his death after the latter set himself on fire at a traffic police office in protest.

An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar had earlier directed the HDIP, the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), the transport secretary and others to formulate standard operating procedures for fitness testing and clearance of CNG kits and cylinders being used in public and private vehicles.

The focal person for the transport secretary submitted a progress report on the strategy devised for the strict implementation of the Supreme Court’s orders and the laws relevant to the use of CNG in intracity public transport and in vehicles used to pick and drop school and college students.

He said a task force was told to prepare a list of ways and means to use CNG as fuel in intracity transport and to implement the ban imposed by the provincial government and Ogra. The court said the director general of the department of explosives had said in the previous hearing that approval for workshops with regard to installation of CNG kits was granted by his department, while the responsibility to train manpower and certify cylinders was the HDIP’s.

The bench said that the entire issue is roaming around the Compressed Natural Gas (Production and Marketing) Rules 1992, whose Rule 18 that pertains to public safety clearly provides that no licensee will locate or construct any new works and CNG refuelling station in any residential area.

The court said the rules state that the licensee will locate, construct and operate their pipeline and all works connected with CNG refuelling station and installation of CNG equipment in vehicles in accordance with the licence granted by the chief inspector of explosives.

Representatives of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) admitted before the court that many unlicensed workshops exist that install substandard CNG kits and cylinders in vehicles. They said that to remove this illegality and safety hazard, they want to establish more than 35 CNG kits installation workshops so that substandard CNG kits or cylinders are not installed in any vehicle.

Explosives department DG Abdul Ali Khan said that it is his domain to grant licence, and if a proposal or application is filed for a licence to open a workshop, he will consider it and grant a licence in accordance with the relevant laws and rules.

HDIP officials said that whenever a cylinder is referred to them, they inspect it and issue a certificate, but they also pointed out the fact that so many illegal workshops have been engaged in the installation of substandard CNG kits.

The SHC directed the APCNGA to apply for a licence in accordance with the relevant laws and rules to be considered by the explosives department DG in accordance with the law. The court ordered that in the meantime, all provincial police officials, including the IGP and all the DIGs, are to ensure that no substandard CNG kit or cylinder is used in any vehicle.

The bench also ordered them to immediately remove every CNG cylinder that is found not to have been certified by the HDIP from every vehicle in strict compliance of this order. The SHC had earlier directed the federal and provincial CNG dealers associations to devise a proper proposal so that an agreement could be signed by the HDIP and the provincial government for the effective implementation of the laws on the use of CNG kits and cylinders. The court said that relevant rules were in field but not being implemented.