Perne mishap 'HPCL& may be held responsible'

HPCL officials answers irks DC; demands reply within 48 hours

Deputy Commissioner Harsha Gupta has warned that HPCL will be held responsible for the tanker mishap occurred at Perne near Uppinangady on Tuesday.

Chairing a meeting, he expressed displeasure over the answers given by the HPCL officials. The oil companies acting irresponsibly while transporting gas can not be accepted.

“I will not give scope for violation of rules. The district administration will not hesitate to make HPCL as accused in the mishap,” he said and added that the oil company has failed to take the responsibility of the mishap. “The police department should initiate stringent action against the HPCL,” the DC directed.

Directing the transport department officials to stop each and every tanker and verify whether the tankers have two drivers and a cleaner besides verifying the documents, he said that any tankers found violating the rules should be seized. The officials should also ensure that tankers do not cross the speed limit, he said.

The Deputy Commissioner promised to initiate measures to provide suitable compensation to the family members of the victims. He also directed to initiate measures to open another fire station at Uppinangady.

He also directed Factories and Boilers officials to collect guidelines from Chief Controller of Explosives for transporting explosives and flammable products.

Coming down heavily on not installing GPS for the lorries, he said that mishaps can be avoided using the technology.

“The off site emergency plan of the HPCL has not functioned properly. Standard operating procedures have not been followed when the mishap occurred. The way a public sector unit like HPCL acted after the mishap is unfortunate,” he rued.

The DC directed the HPCL officials to provide asnwers to the queries raised by him in the meeting within 48 hours. He also collected suggestions for improving the steep curves from the National Highway authorities. Superintendent of Police Abhishek Goyal also spoke.

Chief Fire Officer H S Varada Rajan, MCC Commissioner Dr Harish, Additional Deputy Commissioner Dayanand K, Deputy Commissioner of Police Muthuraya and representatives from BPCL, IOC and MRPL were present.