RAWALPINDI: Police have been taken off the job of keeping a watch on the illegal practices in the marketing of LPG — liquefied petroleum gas — in the Rawalpindi district.

Instead, the Civil Defence Department will henceforth take action against dealers caught indulging in dangerous decanting of the fuel gas from cylinders, which sometimes caused fire incidents in the garrison city’s crowded localities.

This change became effective on Tuesday in pursuance of a directive from the Punjab government issued to district authorities in the province. Sale of LPG jumps during winter and the city saw increased cylinder blast cases this season because of dangerous decanting by unauthorised LPG dealers.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Saima Younas and Senior Superintendent of Police Operation Irfan Tariq Khan reviewed the new arrangements with Civil Defence Officer Sanjeeda Khanum, LPG Distributors Association Chairman Irfan Khokhar and local assistant commissioner in a meeting on Tuesday.

Ms Younas informed the meeting that all powers to seal and impose fines on the illegal LPG trade have been transferred from the police to the Civil Defence Department.

She said that the government will not tolerate unauthorised decanting in unsafe manner. The Civil Defence has to ensure that authorised dealers too don’t keep more than 20 LPG cylinders at any given time and that they “install all safety measures” in their outlets.

LPG distributors will be trained by the Civil Defence in safety practices and how to deal with emergencies, according to the additional deputy commissioner.

She also promised to launch a campaign “to end illegal decanting shops” in the city soon.

Civil Defence Officer Sanjeeda Khanum said her department was working in collaboration with assistant commissioners and has sealed 14 illegal decanting shops in Rawalpindi city for selling LPG without license. Another 10 shops were served with challans for not adopting safety measures.

More than 920 LPG decanting outlets are in business in densely populated areas of the city in violation of the rules and regulations for the trade.

A petroleum ministry official told Dawn that only 261 dealers are authorised to sell LPG, observing proper safety measures.

Until now, the city administration had ignored the illegal business. “Dealers are authorised only to sell LPG cylinders of different capacities but many sell the gas fuel minor quantities to make more money,” said the official.

Under the law, a government official can report the illegal sale to police who are duty-bound to take action even without prior information, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017