THE concern of safety over using expired LPG cylinders has been a real one. A report carried in this newspaper on Sunday said, 25 year old cylinders are being used without any retesting. Therefore, explosions of LP gas are taking place frequently causing deaths and destruction of valuable lives and properties in fires. We are horrified as millions of people everyday are in close proximity to latent bombs in transportation or even in our kitchens.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as LPG, is widely used in motorized transport as fuel. Besides, it has also been used as ‘cylinder gas’ for cooking. So safety in using LP gas is a must. The reason behind the blast of LPs is use of substandard and dilapidated cylinders. According to the Gas Cylinder Act 1991, re-testing of cylinders after every five years is obligatory to ascertain the quality of the cylinder. Moreover, as per the conditions of the International Standard Organisation (ISO), such re-testing of gas cylinders in every five years is also mandatory to maintain standards. Regrettably in our country, in some cases, 25 year old cylinders are also being used without any retesting. Consumers often use them unknowingly to save money so as not to purchase new cylinders.
Therefore, LPG cylinder blasts have become quite common in recent times. But the government’s move, as it appears, is not enough to tackle the adversity caused by substandard LNG cylinder use. The concerned companies who are involved in LNG business are not active enough to raise consciousness among the people. The Department of Explosives, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) and BSTI, which are responsible for monitoring expired shoddy LNG cylinders remain idle keeping their eye closed.
LP gas is lighter than air and when it comes in contact with fire, it results in fatal accidents. Sometimes, people cannot detected the leakage of LP gas unless an accident is caused. If the cylinder is old then all of its valves cannot work properly. Gas spreads outside due to leakage of feeble or substandard valves. Thus, children and women are getting afflicted due to the spreading of gas besides the incidents of explosions. The harmful carbon of LP gas is creating fatal diseases for people as human bodies are taking this toxic stuff through breathing. Common people are neither aware of it nor made conscious about it.
It is advisable that the government should adopt some policy guidelines to use LP gas. Besides, to raise public consciousness about the fatal effects of expired LPG cylinders, the authority should utilize programmes through the mass media. LP gas marketing companies also cannot ignore the responsibility. If the companies are found guilty of not maintaining the standards of LPG cylinders, they should be fined and punished as well. No one can make business by disregarding the value of human lives. The concerned authorities must be aware of it as peoples’ safety should be the prime concern for any public authority.
