February 01, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 12, 1428

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LAHORE, Jan 31: Most of CNG cylinder users do not know that the equipment needs a regular checking and fitness certification. Although all CNG stations in the city and elsewhere in the province display warnings against the use of substandard cylinders and the ones that have outlived their utility, people hardly take notice of it and do not go for fitness certification.

“I don’t know a place to get a fitness certificate for a cylinder,” said motorist Amir Riaz, who was getting CNG from a station on Empress Road.

How would I know that my car’s cylinder had outlived its utility? he asked.

For people like Amir, a department, Hydro Carbon Development Institute of Pakistan, is working in Wahdat Colony to check CNG cylinders and issue fitness certificates.

“Around 400 to 500 CNG cylinder users visit us every month,” an official of the department, Kafil Ahmad, said. However, he said the number of the visitors was much less than expected.

He said they simply removed a substandard or faulty cylinder from a vehicle and cut them into two. One part is handed over to the owner and the department keeps the other, he said, adding the practice was carried out to prevent a cylinder’s reuse.

Kafil said there were plenty of substandard cylinders available in the market. He said sometimes people deliberately bought such stuff. Outlets installing kits cheat most of CNG users, he said. Such outlets charge from a customer for a good quality cylinder but install a substandard one taking advantage of the situation, he believed.

A gas kit fitness outlet owner, Jamshed Durrani, agreed that there were several kinds of substandard cylinders available in the market. He blamed people for this, saying most of customers went for cheaper cylinders, which were of low quality.

He said there were several ill-trained people in the field, who damaged kits instead of repairing them.

Kafil said officials from his department also visited CNG stations for inspection of their equipment.

“We usually carry out inspections every third or fourth month. We also receive cylinders of these stations for checking,” he said.