The number of LPG gas cylinder sale shops has mushroomed in and around the city where traders selling and refilling the cylinders have ignored to take precautionary measures. A survey conducted by Business Recorder has found that up to 235 shops have been selling gas cylinders illegally in Kasur.
A few dealers have got licences from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority. These licence-holder shopkeepers have never obtained no-objection certificates from the district government.
These shops are located in Kasur City, Khuddian, Noorpur, Mustafabad, Mandi Usmanwala, Fatehpur, Kanganpur, Kot Radha Kishan, Thaih Sheikham and Phoolnagar. Most of them are located in residential areas.
The steel sheets being used in these gas cylinders are of the poor quality, posing risk to users and leading to a string of explosions claiming nine lives in the past two years. These explosions occurred because of gas leakage and poor quality of cylinder's sheets. The dealers use plastic or rubber pipes to fill and refill the cylinders.
Not even a single shopkeeper has fire-extinguishing arrangements. The District Civil Defence Officer has admitted that the shops illegally sell the cylinders in and around the city. He said measures should be taken to legalise the business.