RAWALPINDI: The Civil Defence Department on Saturday sealed a fuel station for selling petrol in bottles.

Four shops were also sealed in different parts of the city for decanting liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in cylinders.

A team visited Chakri Road, Adiala Road, Dhoke Syedan and Peshawar Road and found the four shops involved in the illegal business of refilling cylinders with LPG without adopting precautionary measures.

The team also lodged FIRs against the shop owners with the police concerned.

“We raided a petrol filling station at Dhoke Hafiz on Airport Road and found its staff involved in illegal sale of petrol in small plastic bottles which is a violation of Supreme Court order dated Dec 9, 2013.

“They were also selling petrol to motorcyclists without helmet which is a violation of Section 144 imposed in Rawalpindi,” Civil Defence Officer Talib Hussain told Dawn.

He said the sale of loose petrol in plastic bottles was very dangerous as it could catch fire.

He said the petrol station owner failed to adopt fire safety measures.

The provincial government has asked the Civil Defence Department to launch a campaign against decanting and commercial outlets and petrol filling stations that have failed to install firefighting equipment on their premises.

He said a large number of rickshaws also run on LPG by using cylinders instead of fuel tanks. The rickshaw drivers refill these cylinders through decanting which is an extremely dangerous way of transferring gas from one container to the other, said the official.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2019