ISLAMABAD
Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has fixed responsibility of the tragic oil tanker accident at Ahmedpur East, Bahawlapur, which claimed more than 200 lives, on Shell Pakistan Limited (SPL) for its failure to fulfill its legal responsibility and imposed a penalty of Rs 10 million, reveals an OGRA inquiry report.
According to the OGRA report, signed by Chairperson OGRA Uzma Adil Khan, Dr Abdullah Malik Member (Oil) and Noor Ul Haq member (Finance), a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, the SPL shall comply with the decision, failing which OGRA would be constrained to initiate proceeding against the company to impose further penalty or any other strict action under the law/rules inter alia including suspension of marketing activity.
The oil tanker lorry of SPL met with accident near village Safeerwala, 6 km from Ahmedpur Sharqya, Bahawalpur on June 25, 2017 in which over 130 people were died on the spot, while dozens got burn injuries. However, later, the total death toll in the unfortunate accident climbed to over 200.
The report reads that the OGRA is of the considered opinion that the SPL failed to fulfill its legal responsibility under the OGRA Ordinance 2002 and Pakistan Oil (Refining, Blending, Transportation, Storage, and Marketing) Rules, 2016 and other applicable law/rules in filed for transporting the petroleum products through tank lorries.
The report said tank lorry TLJ 352 was hired by SPL from its haulier, Marwat Enterprises, and it has been found to be non-compliant to the Pakistan Petroleum Rules 1937.
The report reads that since the tank lorry was found to not have Chief Inspector Explosives (CIE) license; therefore, it is regarded as non-compliant with the Rules, besides the tank lorry was not in compliance to OGRA notified technical standard for road transport vehicle, container, and equipment for transportation of petroleum 2009.
According to the report, the tank lorry was 4-axle; therefore, it was not compliant with National Highways Safety Ordinance (NHSO) 2000, as per the requirement, 50,000 L tank lorry must have 5-6 Axle.
Although, the SPL has provided a certificate of fitness by motor vehicle examiner issued under Quetta; however, the same is fake as confirmed by the Chief Minister Investigation Team (CMIT), Punjab, the report disclosed.
Moreover, the SPL has failed to provide the pre-load check list of their company. Instead, they have submitted their haulier’s i.e., Marwat Enterprises check list. If the same was in placed or exercised/monitored in actual, the said lorry could have been denied for loading the product by the SPL.
The reports disclosed that the SPL has failed to provide its own Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and submitted ERP of its haulier Marwat Enterprises, indicating that SPL entire dependence on the ERP of its haulier, which is very casual attitude of SPL to handle the emergency at the time of spill etc. and the same is, therefore, not acceptable.
As per condition (i) of the license granted to SPL by OGRA, the company must govern their operations under OGRA Ordinance 2002.
As per rule 69 of Pakistan Oil (Refining, Blending, Transportation, Storage and Marketing) rules, 2016, “69 Penalty, (1) Subject to sub-rule (2), a person, who contravenes any provision of the Ordinance, these rules, terms and conditions of the license, or the decisions of the Authority, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten million rupees and in case of a continuing contravention with further fine which may extend to one million rupees for every day during which such contravention continues.”
So, in the light of the above, the Authority in the exercise of the powers has decided to impose a penalty of Rs 10 million on SPL, which shall be deposited by the company within three working days of receipt of this order.
The SPL shall pay the compensation of Rs 1.0 million for the deceased and Rs 0.5 million to the injured.
The report reads although the accident can cause spillage from safest vehicles, nevertheless same can be mitigated through safety standards/regulations and this specific accident could have been avoided/or spill can be contained/minimized if the lorry was compliant to the applicable safety law/rules.
