Date : 25-03-2015
Bengaluru: Thousands of autorickshaws and other commercial vehicles with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders plying in the city are potential explosives on wheels. Though rules by the Chief Controller of Explosives state that the safety of the cylinders has to be checked every five years, the transport department in Karnataka has, just ignored it.
Agencies that were authorised to do the safety checks have now approached the high court against the Central government and the state transport department saying the safety of citizens has been sacrificed. Dars Automobiles and Venkat Testing Agency have approached the HC. They are LPG Retro Fitment centres authorised by the department of explosives. Rules framed under the Indian Explosives Act specify that LPG cylinders and other cylinders that are fitted in vehicles have to be tested for stress and other safety factors. These tests have to be conducted every five years. If they are found not safe enough, they have to be destroyed immediately and broken into pieces. The pieces should be such that it should not be possible to weld them together into a cylinder again.
The state transport department amended its rules to check the safety certificates. The petitioners in the court argued that after auto rickshaw unions gave a petition, the department went back on its own earlier circulars and washed its hand off saying it had nothing to do with checking the safety of the cylinders. The auto unions had cited the high cost (Rs 850 per test once in five years) as the reason.
Advocate A Madhusudhana Rao, arguing for the agencies, said the transport department was the only department which can check on the safety. The agencies would do the testing and if the department was not checking, no one comes forward to do the test. It is a hazard to the safety of citizens. The department issues fitness certificates to commercial vehicles once a year and all they have to do is check if those vehicles are doing the safety tests once in five years.
The government advocate argued that other states except Maharashtra were not following the safety test rules. It was also argued that it was the LPG filling stations that should check if the safety tests are done and not the transport department. The judge said, “There is no equality in lawlessness. If two more buses burn, you will know. So what if it is not there in other states?” Rao said it was a serious issue that has great consequences and the transport department was abdicating its responsibilities and dumping it on to gas filling stations.
The judge agreed that the issue was serious and said it was common sense to do the safety checks, that too every year. The court said if the department felt a monopoly would be created by testing centres, it could grant permission to other agencies as well. The case was posted for January 12.
