Title - LPG by rail network on Cabinet agenda

A special Cabinet meeting on Monday will discuss the feasibility of bulk import of highly inflammable liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the State by the railway network to reduce the possibility of road accidents involving LPG tankers, according to Home Department officials.The proportion of LPG tankers in the total freight traffic in the State is increasing at a fast rate.Daily, hundreds of tankers transport LPG from the dedicated terminal at Mangalore in Karnataka to cylinder-filling plants in Kozhikode, Kochi, and Kollam.The tankers, each carrying at least 25 tonnes of LPG, traverse hundreds of kilometres of congested roads and pass through thickly populated urban localities to reach their destinations.

High risk

The risk of fire involving LPG tankers, like the one which claimed 19 lives in Kannur and three lives in Karunagapally in December 2009, is very high in a State such as Kerala.

Last year, 35,216 road accidents were reported in the State, of which more than 500 involved trucks and tankers. The traffic volume in the State exceeds its available road space by more than 200 per cent.

More consumers

The number of LPG consumers in Kerala is increasing at an exponential rate. The government views public sector oil companies as primarily responsible for the safe transport and distribution of LPG.

The Home Department officials say that oil companies are forced to entrust the task of LPG transportation in South India to a powerful lobby of tanker fleet owners based at Namakkal in Salem district of Tamil Nadu.

The lobby prevents outsiders from bidding for the lucrative contract to transport LPG.

They often employ unqualified crew and substandard tankers with scarce safety features to save on costs.

Violations

The officials say only a few tankers display product identification plates or have functional fire extinguishers. In many tankers, the valves used for filling or draining LPG are barely protected against impact.

Most of them lack the mandatory tachograph, a tamper-proof device that records a vehicle’s speed over time.

They also have no spark arrestors, a device fitted to the exhaust pipes of vehicles transporting combustible materials to prevent fire from engine sparks.