CNG cylinders have killed more than the drones

More than 2,000 people have died in explosions caused by CNG cylinders in year 2011 and the figures are likely to be doubled this year as the government and concerned authorities are yet to take concrete steps in this regard, a report issued here on Monday by a local think-tank said.
Responding to the serious threat posed by illegal sale of low-quality CNG cylinders, the Civil Society Front Pakistan, a non-government organisation of international repute, launched the report at a press conference held at a local hotel.
Addressing a press conference, Civil Society Front (CSF) Director Ayub Munir said the number of people killed in CNG cylinder explosions was four times greater than the number of people who had died in the US drone strikes in 2011, but the issue of low-quality CNG cylinders was not given due importance by the government or the media.
The Civil Society Front also presented their 14 demands/solutions/precautionary measures to the government to save the lives of innocent people being killed in CNG cylinders blasts. They have demanded of the government to immediately cancel route permits of all public transports which were installed with low-quality CNG cylinders. “The government should set up high-tech workshops across the country that are authorised to issue Fitness Certificate that states that the vehicle bears authorised and quality CNG cylinder under rules and regulations of 1992,” they demanded, adding that these workshops should paste RFID (Remote Frequency Identification Tag) on the examined vehicles and the tag should be tamper-proof.
The Civil Society Front also believed that OGRA Hydrocarbon Institute of Pakistan should assure and certify that CNG workshops had the qualified staff and required hi-technology equipment. They also called on the government to abandon unauthorised CNG-kit installing and checking shops where fake fitness certificates were being issued to the CNG vehicles. “These shops don’t even have the required CNG kit and cylinder checking equipments,” the report said.
The CSF report also demanded that the traffic police should be authorised to check CNG fitness certificates and RFID (Remote Frequency Identification Tag) issued by a certified testing laboratory to private and commercial vehicles.
“Without traffic police support, implementation of any safety measures against CNG cylinders explosions is impossible,” Munir said. The report also suggested that the concerned authorities, while issuing route permit to any public transport, should also ensure that the vehicle posed certified CNG cylinder certificate. It also demands complete ban of use of CNG cylinders in HTV vehicles including buses, mini buses and coaches.
The CSF in its report also laid stressed on the government to launch a massive awareness campaign across Pakistan about significance of quality CNG cylinders and risk associated with them.
The most-pressed demand of the CSF report was that the licenses of the gas station, which were not abiding by the safety rules and filling gas in vehicles that does not bear safety certificate, be cancelled.
Munir said if these precautionary measures/suggestions were adopted by the government, the lives of thousands could be saved and CNG could be used as a safe fuel.
He said the government should also initiate a crack down on dealers selling low quality cylinders. He said these cylinders were live
bombs which were being installed in vehicles to save money.