CNG in public transport: Ogra asks government to slap ban

Following the rising incidents of CNG cylinder blasts, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has recommended the government to slap ban on use of CNG cylinders in passenger vans and buses. Sources in the OGRA told Business Recorder that following the recent CNG cylinder blasts in public service vehicles in Vihari Punjab and Matiari, in which dozens of passengers lost their lives, the authority has written a letter to the federal government to completely ban CNG cylinder use in buses and vans.
Sources further said that in public service vans and buses sub-standard CNG cylinders are being used, adding that in most of the vehicles multiple cylinders are being used so keeping in view the public safety, the authority has recommended complete ban on the CNG cylinder use in the vehicles. Furthermore, the transporters are charging fares from passengers in accordance with the prices of diesel and petrol while they are using CNG as fuel, which is much cheaper then petrol. Currently CNG is being sold at Rs 62 per kg, while petrol at Rs 89 per litre and diesel at Rs 96 per litre. Additionally a vehicle using CNG covers double mileage as compared to petrol or diesel. The Authority has recently blacklisted six CNG cylinder manufacturers not meeting the set standard.
According to OGRA officials, the companies were blacklisted on account of not having international standard cylinder testing certificate includes: Kioshi, BTC, IGVI, Vintec, N.K Corporation, MESCO, Tailor Wharten, Chongching and UEF. The authority has directed the following CNG cylinder storage supplying companies including Cilbrass, BTIC, EKC India, EKC UEA, Inflex and Dalmine to acquire Canadian Power Tech Libratory Certificate.
If the Canadian Power Tech Libratory issued international standard certificate for the blacklisted companies, the authority will allow them to operate in the market. The authority has taken the decision owing to rising CNG cylinder blasts incidents in the vehicles, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of people. Those companies blacklisted by the authority are Indian, Argentina, America, UK, Brazil, UAE, Italy and Korea. It should be mentioned here that hundreds of CNG cylinder supplied by abovementioned companies have been installed in the vehicles.