Thiruvananthapuram: Cabinet on Wednesady decided to intiate effective measures to ensure safe transportation of LPG and other hazardous substances to avoid incidents like the one that happened in Kalyasseri in Kannur district on Tuesday.
At the Cabinet briefing, Information Minister K C Joseph said sate transportation measures including waterways was being considered by the government.
The chief secretary will be holding a meeting of representatives of disaster management authority, oil companies, transporters, motor vehicles department and other stake holders to discuss the measures.
According to him, 1.80 lakh litres of water was used to douse the inferno after 18 hour long operation.
The gas tanker was carrying 18 metric tons of LPG at the time of the mishap.
The Cabinet was relieved to note that a major tragedy could be averted because of the timely intervention of fire force, revenue , police and local people. It congratulated the officials and people who were involved in the rescue operations.
Firefighters’ ingenuity saved many lives
Melena Thomas |DC
Kozhikode: The timely action of the fire and rescue personnel at Kalyassery near Kannur averted a major disaster when the LPG tanker caught fire early on Tuesday.
The fire-fighting personnel ensured continuous cooling of the tanker and prevented its explosion thus saving the region from a possible catastrophe. In any major fire mishap, the main difficulty for the fire force is to refill water tenders which get empty in three minutes.
At Kalyassery, the fire force personnel made a temporary water storage mechanism to reuse the sprayed water.
“There was a possibility for explosion till the end of the fire-fighting operation because the quantity of gas leaked through the valve was less, taking more time. We needed to provide uninterrupted water supply to cool the tanker,” E.B. Prasad, administrative director, Fire and Rescue Services Department, said.
To save time the fire force personnel made a temporary water storage mechanism to store and reuse the water sprayed out.
They trapped the water in a roadside drain of four-feet height and two-feet width and primed the water using two portable pumps. The water required for over half the time of the operation was sourced this way.
Prasad told DC that the idea was suggested by V.K. Biju, leading fireman in Meenchandha fire station and M.K. Gangadharan, fireman driver-cum pump operator.
Currently, it takes 20 minutes to refill a water tender using a pump having a capacity to draw 275 litres per minute and additional time is needed for transportation.
“Refilling of water tenders and transporting it to and fro the accident spot is a time-consuming process. Here, we used the available resources wisely for prolonged fire-fighting,” said the officer.
Oil companies yet to heed short term steps
Oil companies yet to heed short term steps
Gilvester Assary | DC
Thiruvananthapuram: While the state government is looking for long term solution like transportation of gas tankers via water ways, short term measures suggested by State Disaster Management Authority for safe transportation of hazardous substances are yet to be implemented by oil companies and authorities concerned.
After the Karunagapally and Chala disaster, SDMA suggested convoys of five tankers with a pilot van specially equipped with fire fighting and disaster management systems, for safe transportation. But the recommendation is yet to be implemented by the oil companies.
“Convoy system will help in enforcing safety measures including fire safety standards, two driver norm, physical condition of bullet tankers and check on over speeding,’’ said Shekhar Kuriakose, member SDMA .
The SDMA had also suggested deployment of chemical disaster response vehicles at different stretches of the state which are used frequently by gas and oil tankers. After repeated requests a specially equipped vehicle was procured by IOC and deployed in Ernakulam.
But when the tragedy happened in Kannur on Tuesday, it took almost 7 hours for the vehicle to reach the mishap site.
Considering the geographical spread of the state and with most highways being used by oil companies for transportation, a minimum of half a dozen specially equipped chemical disaster response vehicles are needed in the state. which is not financially viable for the government.
Oil companies lose crores due to lack of coordination
Vinod Nedumudy | DC
Kochi: At a time when the lives of people are exposed to danger as proved through the Chala and Kalyassery episodes of LPG tankers catching fire, the oil companies are wasting crores of rupees for LPG transportation and playing with the lives of people due to lack of proper co-ordination.
When IOC supplies LPG through bullet tankers from Mangalore to faraway Udayamperoor in Kochi and Parippally in Kollam, the LPG supply from nearby Kochi Refineries Limited owned by BPCL is not explored for Udayamperoor and Parippally.
“This could save crores of rupees a month for the oil companies which are hiking the LPG cylinder rates by talking about their losses. It is quite strange why the oil companies are not co-ordinating in this regard. I strongly doubt whether there is a lobby working to help the transporters, with both benefiting. When a bullet tanker goes from KRL to Chennai bottling plant, Rs 60,000 - Rs 70,000 is spent in rent for the tanker for one trip,” said a source in the LPG sector.
