Karnataka - Mysore   

Information from residents led to raid on LPG filling centre

By Our Staff Correspondent

The Deputy Commissioner, Kumar G. Naik (fourth from right), inspecting cylinders that were seized from a building in Mysore on Tuesday.

MYSORE, MARCH 2. The explosion at an unauthorised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-filling centre in Mysore city in January that killed a person seems to have turned many people into responsible, duty conscious citizens.

For, they are alerting the Food and Civil Supplies Department against such illegal activities.

The department, in turn, has conducted raids against establishments indulging in the activity.

Sources said the people, after an appeal by the Deputy Commissioner, Kumar G. Naik, have started providing information about the functioning of these unauthorised LPG filling units.

Raid on six units

This has resulted in raids on six such unauthorised centres in various parts of the city, besides 50 other places that have been selling petroleum products such as naphtha, kerosene, adulterated oil and petrol.

In fact, it was the information provided by some residents to the officials of Food and Civil Supplies Department about an unauthorised refilling station at BEML Layout in the Srirampura area that resulted in a raid on Tuesday.

The sources said that during the raid, which was conducted under the supervision of Mr. Kumar Naik and the Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies, S.E. Mahadevappa, 147 LPG cylinders of various capacities that were being refilled illegally were recovered.

This is one of largest recovery of illegal LPG cylinders in the recent times.

Crude methods

There are LPG refilling centres with no or limited infrastructure and they employ crude methods to refill cylinders. They function without obtaining authorisation under the Explosive License Act.

Further, crude methods of heating subsidised cylinders to increase pressure and transfer LPG to an unauthorised cylinder is risky, especially in crowded residential areas. Poor ventilation also adds to the risk.

The operations of these refilling centres are not restricted to one area in the city limits. Some of them have been found in the most congested areas such as Nazarbad, N.R. Mohalla and Vidyaranyapuram. Others operate in new extensions such as Bannimantap and Kuvempunagar.

Permission

Mr. Mahadevappa told The Hindu that only Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Sri Gas had been permitted to refill LPG cylinders in Mysore. The increase in the number of vehicles using LPG as an alternative fuel had resulted in such unauthorised centres coming up in the city, he added.

Mr. Mahadevappa said with increased vigil against illegal refill centres, the department had been able to recover more than 725 unauthorised LPG cylinders since January through raids conducted on various places. While 17 persons have been arrested so far, 56 criminal cases have been booked.

He said action had been initiated against three gas agencies under the LPG Control Order 2000. The district administration has requested the cancellation of license for an agency at T. Narasipura for alleged irregular supply and also for supplying it at inflated rates.

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