LAHORE, June 18: The City District Government, Lahore, has re-launched its campaign against Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) decanting, announcing that the outlets that may cause large-scale damage will be sealed if not immediately shifted by their owners to comparatively safer places.

There will be no compromise on shifting of the shops, vows district environment officer Tariq Zaman, who is the focal person to tackle the issue.

The CDGL had, on provincial authorities’ intervention, suspended its drive against the decanting business. The district authorities and the LPG distributors agreed at a meeting held on June 2 to implement the safety rules framed by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the CDGL in two phases.

At least 28 shops were sealed and more than 400 were challaned during the week-long campaign.

The first phase, envisaging implementation of 11 out of 16 Ogra safety rules, was to start from June 17.

Mr Zaman says to give a fair chance to the LPG outlets’ owners, only warning will be issued for the first three days — June 17, 18 and 19. After that, fines will be imposed and shops sealed, he adds.

Asked about the criteria for the punitive action, he says the outlets having potential to cause serious damage will face closure. Elaborating the strategy, he says the outlets located in basements of multi-storey buildings or in a kiosk or in the vicinity of any worship place, school, hospital, hotel, etc will be sealed, while those having no proper fire-extinguishing arrangements, lacking air ventilation facility, etc., will be slapped fines, ranging from Rs1,000 to Rs5,000 according to severity of the violation.