Preventive measures could have saved lives in Bahawalpur incident

Islamabad: Preventive measures taken by concerned authorities could have easily saved these precious lives lost in Bahawalpur oil tanker incident. It is high-time for lawmakers to revise the fine imposition laws because we have failed to revalue the amounts that were made by the law some eight decades ago, says a press release issued by the victims’ families.

A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court against the companies responsible for Ahmadpur Sharqia incident. The most unfortunate thing of all is that according to the Petroleum Act of 1934, the concerned oil company will be penalized Rs500 if it is found guilty for negligence in this case. It is absurd to think that a national tragedy can only cause a fine of Rs500 where so many valuable lives have been lost.

Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has imposed a penalty of Rs10 million and has additionally ordered the oil company responsible for the incident, to pay Rs1 million each to the families of the deceased and Rs500,000 each to the injured people of the incident.

According to OGRA’s report, the tank lorry was not in compliance with Pakistan Petroleum Rules 1937. But the oil company counsel has rejected such allegations, citing that the ill-fated oil tanker was not owned by the company, so it would not be fair to hold the company responsible for it.

However, OGRA refuted back by stating that although the oil tanker had been outsourced, the responsibility of maintaining standards lay with the oil company since it was the licensee of OGRA.

Although OGRA should also carry half the blame for not being able to implement and execute its safety policy and letting oil company get away with substandard transportation.

In its report, OGRA has made a few recommendations to avoid such future incidents which include all tank lorries for transporting petroleum products to be manufactured in line with applicable safety laws.

In this regard, Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) shall short list the manufacturing companies based on the best international practices and no vehicles made by the companies’ other than approved by the OCAC be put in oil transport service. Whereas it is good to see corrective measures taken by authorities after the Bahawalpur oil tanker incident, it would be better if these recommendations are actually implemented.