MANGALORE: Peeved with the alleged mishandling of the situation after the Perne gas tanker tragedy and the subsequent response from the oil company officials, deputy commissioner Harsh Gupta on Wednesday said that the district administration would not hesitate to hold HPCLresponsible for the mishap.
Holding a meeting with Oil Marketing Company officials, along with superintendent of police Abhishek Goyal, Gupta said the OMCs have failed to respond to the situation as well as accept responsibility.
He directed the RTO officials to ensure proper checks of tankers and also ensure that the tankers have two drivers and a cleaner at all times. He directed HPCL officials to get back to him with proper response in 48 hours.
He took suggestions from NHAI officials on improving the curves and said measures will be taken to set up a fire station at Uppinangady.
HPCL LPG pipeline set to sound death knell for bullet tankers
MANGALORE: Bullet tankers transporting LPG on the Mangalore-Mangalore National Highway will be a thing of the past in three years. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation will be laying the Rs 600 crore LPG pipeline from Mangalore LPG Import Facility to its receipt terminal at Solur, near Bangalore. This project is part of Mangalore-Hassan-Bangalore/ Mysore LPG Pipeline Project. The proposed pipeline, 294-kms in length, will be laid along the existing PetronetMangalore-Bangalore (PMB) Pipeline corridor.
The existing PMB pipeline transports petroleum products- petrol, diesel, kerosene, naphtha, aviation fuel – catering to the requirement of different consumption zones of Hassan, Mysore, Mandya, Tumkur, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Bangalore, Kolar, Bellary and Raichur.
HPCL chief manager Krishnan Kutty told TOI, “We are in the process of getting all requisite permission as the pipeline passes through reserve and state forest area.” The pipeline when commissioned will transport two million tonnes of LPG per annum. At present, the tankers transport 1.5 million tonnes of LPG per annum.
“When this facility is up and running, the movement of bullet tankers will cease totally and the small tanker movement will come down by more than 80%,” he said. The movement of small tankers is unavoidable as they have to cater to intermediate stations having auto LPG facility between Mangalore-Hassan.
“Apart from savings in transportation costs, which are recurring in nature, the savings in terms of diesel is huge. We will incur one time cost in terms of LPG pipeline, which will ensure timely and quick delivery of the product. There will be no traffic gridlocks at Shiradi Ghat to encounter with,” he said.
Regarding the safety, he said it is absolutely safe and pipelines are the safest way to transport LPG.
Regarding safety measures taken after the Perne incident which claimed eight lives, he said, “Based on the investigation report, necessary action would be initiated to see that such incidents are not repeated while transporting LPG through bullet tankers.”
The LPG pipeline will pass through approximately 238 villages in 17 taluks of eight districts of the state and traverses through 4.85 kms of reserve forest area, 3.35 kms of state forest area, 24 km of Ghat section, 15 km of coffee plantations, 4.5 km of cashew nut plantations, 7.4 kms of areca nut plantation, 34.1 km of barren land and balance crop and mixed plantation areas. In the entire route, the pipeline crosses eight major rivers viz. Gurupur, Netravathi, Aniyur, Japavathi, Hemavathi, Yagachi, Shimsa and Arkavati.
It also crosses about 338 different roads (including five National Highways) and eight major railway lines.
