Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has imposed a ban on the use of CNG in public service vehicles (PSV) keeping in view the safety of public life and property. The Ogra urged all stakeholders to comply with the decision in true letter and spirit.
The school vans, which are private vehicles, are not allowed to use CNG as fuel to ensure safety of innocent children in pursuance of Sindh government's notification as well as Sindh High Court's order dated June 19, 2019 in a constitutional petition. The court has directed that the district implementation committees shall perform their responsibilities diligently in accordance with the terms of reference mentioned in the notification to avoid any untoward incident/accident.
All provincial governments as well as IG motorways police are, therefore, also advised to start crackdown against all PSVs having CNG cylinders installed inside the passenger's compartments with a view to save precious lives of innocent passengers travelling in such PSVs.
However, the Prime Minister House and Petroleum Division have taken notice of the Ogra's decision on ban on CNG in public transport near Eid-ul-Azha. All Pakistan CNG Association and Petroleum Division will hold a meeting today (Tuesday) on this issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that LPG cylinders are completely banned in transport vehicles. Any vehicle found with LPG cylinders shall also be dealt with according to the law. On June 12, 2019, Secretary Transport Syed Javed Iqbal Bokhari wrote a letter to Ogra. In the letter, he argued that HDIP was to establish its workshops in every district to inspect/verify the quality of kits and cylinders installed in PSVs and to issue a certificate for assistance of traffic checking agencies issued by All Pakistan CNG Association but none of these workshops have requisite expertise in this field.
A list of 80 approved workshops was also issued but none of these workshops is functional at present so the district administration in the provinces are facing a lot of problems due to increasing trend of fire incidents in PSVs, resulting in deaths of innocent lives.
It transpired during inquiries of recent incidents occurred in the PSVs, especially Hiace vans at Sohawa (Jhelum) and on Motorway Toll Plaza Islamabad, that the drivers and the owners of these vehicles are using LPG in place of CNG and have installed more than one cylinder beneath the passenger seats against the instructions and design approved by HDIP and Ogra. Practically it is not possible to check and verify each and every PSV operating on intra-city and intercity routes.
Therefore, it is recommended that use of any kind of gas as fuel and installation of gas cylinders in all PSVs may kindly be banned immediately to avoid unpleasant incidents in future and to save precious human lives.
Comments
Comments are closed.