CUTTACK: Petrol pumps in Cuttack City have come under scanner over blatant non-compliance of mandatory safety and security measures and provisioning of basic facilities for the customers.
The district administration is set to carry out an inspection of petrol pumps in the city and towns, along the highways and all the blocks in terms of provisioning of facilities like toilets, drinking water, free air pressure check, first aid, fire safety and overall security, among others.
A team will be constituted under the district civil supplies officer to check and verify if the guidelines issued by the Central Government for establishment of petrol pumps and provisioning of facilities are followed or not, Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra said.
The move comes on the direction of the Orissa High Court which has instructed the Collector to submit a report on the status of petrol pumps in Cuttack and its vicinity.
Acting on a PIL filed by city-based advocate Pradip Kumar Patnaik, a division bench of Justice I Mohanty and Justice SC Parija has directed the Collector to appoint an appropriate officer to personally carry out field inspection of all the petrol pumps and determine if the Central guidelines are followed or not. The report should be submitted within four weeks.
The Court has also issued notice to the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, State Civil Supply and Consumer Welfare Department and the three oil companies – Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum – directing them to file responses within three weeks.
The petitioner stated that as per the guidelines, it is mandatory for petrol pumps to provide basic amenities like drinking water, separate toilets, free air pressure check up at the stations.
Every petrol pump should have instruments for examining quality and quantity of the fuel available for consumers.
The petrol pumps should be equipped with 24 hour power back-up and adequate fire safety measures to deal with emergencies caused by the highly inflammable material.
Most of the petrol pumps did not even have first-aid boxes and the staff were not trained in handling emergency situations.
Patnaik submitted that cost of fuel included the facilities and services. But, the profit-mongering pump owners are blatantly violating the guidelines across the State, he stated.
Date : 29th September, 2015
Source : newindianexpress