Unchecked cylinders

On Sunday (August 8), a cylinder blast in a passenger van in Gujranwala resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people. This is not the first time that such a gruesome accident where so many people are burnt alive in a vehicle being run on compressed natural gas (CNG) has happened in the country. As usual, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has issued a notification and demanded that public transport should be barred from using CNG cylinders. As far as one can recall, similar orders were issued by Ogra in July 2019; all CNG stations were instructed not to supply gas to motorists without ensuring that they have proper CNG cylinders that were duly checked and certified by the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) in their vehicles. However, no one paid attention to these instructions. CNG station owners don’t want to lose their business. Also, many transporters challenged the notification in court, and the case is still pending.

It seems that the fresh notification by the government is nothing more than false hopes because a majority of vehicles, public buses and coaches, intercity buses, rickshaws, taxis or school vans, are still running on CNG or LPG. In Karachi, many people know of only one HDIP office which is located in Korangi Creek. It has the record of 6.2 million registered vehicles (as of Dec2019) excluding two- and three-wheelers. However, the HDIP’s process is too lengthy because of which many people don’t go there. It seems that in our country the authorities don’t care about incidents like cylinder blasts in vehicles.

Malik ul Quddoos

Karachi