Gas cylinders not tested in 250,000 CNG-run vehicles

At least 250,000 CNG-run vehicles in the country are run on untested gas cylinders that have passed the deadline for their check-up.

Obaidur Masumbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Oct 2018, 06:22 AM
Updated : 17 Oct 2018, 06:22 AM

The Department of Explosive and the Rupantarita Prakitik Gas Company Limited said the gas cylinders may cause fatal accidents any time if they are flawed.

According to the CNG Policy 2005, the CNG run vehicles must have their cylinders checked every five years. They should be replaced with new cylinders if any flaw is identified.

As of last June there were 503,131 CNG-run vehicles in the country.  Among them 269,506 vehicles were converted to use CNG as fuel, while 193,242 autorickshaws and 40,383 other vehicles were imported as CNG-run vehicles.

The deadline for re-testing of gas cylinders in those vehicles converted and registered as of June 2013 expired in June this year.

According to the BRTA and RPGCL, 342,889 CNG-run vehicles have been registered until 2013. Among them at least 253,479 vehicles not had their cylinders checked as of Oct 15.

WHY CHECK CYLINDERS?

The RPGCL has archived the information on accidents caused by cylinder explosions in vehicles since 2005. It shows two accidents occurred due to cylinder explosions in 2005, seven in 2006, seven in 2007, eight in 2008, five in 2009, five in 2010, six in 2011, five in 2012, ten in 2014, four in 2016 and one accident 2017. No accidents took place in 2013 and 2015. The RPGCL does not have any information on the causalities resulting from those accidents.

On Jul 17, three persons died in Tangail after a gas cylinder explosion in a microbus and another person died in cylinder blast in an autorickshaw in Noakhali.

The gas cylinder depreciates due to the compression and expansion during the filling, said the officials in Department of Explosive. It loses thickness, shape and durability of the valve due to lack of maintenance.

“The steel cylinders have a specific expiry date which may be 20-30 years but should be not used continuously without checking. It should be tested every five years to see if it safe to use,” RPGCL Director General Mohammed Ali told bdnews24.com

The rubber seems to return to its previous position after it has been pulled, but there is some permanent expansion, the director general said as an example.

“It is bad to have that permanent expansion. If a cylinder has permanent expansion more than five parts of its entire size, it should not be used anymore.”

He warned that flawed cylinders may cause accidents.

“A 3,000 PSI pressure is used to fill the cylinder, compared to a cooking stove, which uses less than 1 PSI pressure. You can imagine the pressure on a gas cylinder if you open the valve of a cooking stove and see how high the flame can reach. You can imagine how the explosion would be in case of a gas cylinder in a vehicle.”

The accidents can be avoided if the cylinders are tested and replaced, he said.

NO MONITORING

The BRTA is responsible for monitoring the re-testing of the cylinders, RPGCL Director General Mohammed Ali told bdnews24.com when asked about the authority that re-check the cylinders.

“Each vehicle has to go to BRTA for fitness tests. Every CNG-run vehicle has to go through cylinder tests and produce certificates for the renewal of fitness certificate. But this has not been maintained so far.”

The BRTA could have tested the cylinders in all the vehicles within a year if they ran the cylinder test certificate process properly.

“But we doubt they are implementing the process properly, or may be the vehicle owners are producing fake certificates.”

The Department of Explosive provides permission to the CNG conversion factories, filling stations and re-testing centres to run their business but they cannot force the vehicle owners to test the cylinders,  Md Shamsul Alam, the department’s chief inspector, told bdnews24.com.

“We can’t do it as we don’t control the vehicles. We held discussions and written communication and it was decided BRTA will monitor it when the vehicles come for fitness certificate renewal.”

The BRTA had issued a circular to ensure the expiry and workability of the cylinders in vehicles on Jun 28, 2016.

Technicians working at the CNG Conversion and Testing Workshop of the state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited at Rayerbagh in Dhaka on Wednesday. Photo: Abdullah Al Momin

The BRTA should issue fitness certificate to vehicles only after ensuring the gas cylinder is feasible to use, not expired through testing it in a RPGCL approved ‘CNG cylinder testing’ outlet and producing the certificate, reads the circular signed by director in BRTA Md Nurul Islam.

There was a list of different papers needed to renew vehicle fitness including main copies of the fitness certificate, and a photocopy of tax the token hung on the BRTA office when the bdnews24.com reporter visited on Thursday. But the list did not include cylinder re-testing certificate.

BRTA inspectors in charge of fitness certificate renewal ask for other papers but not the cylinder re-testing certificate. None of the vehicle owners were found to have cylinder re-testing certificates as they came for fitness renewal.

Joynal Abedin from Kafrul, who came to renew the fitness certificate, said his minibus got a cylinder installed in 2006.

A view of the CNG Conversion and Testing Workshop of the state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited and the Department of Explosives at Rayerbagh in Dhaka on Wednesday. Photo: Abdullah Al Momin

He said he does not remember if the cylinder was ever re-checked.

“They didn’t ask for such a certificate when I renewed the fitness last year and haven’t asked even now.”

The BRTA has written to all of its offices to check for cylinder re-testing certificate during fitness renewal, director in BRTA Md Nurul Islam told bdnews24.com.

“We have written to our offices throughout the country and also provided lists of the RPGCL approved re-testing centres. We don’t have any reports that the procedure is not being followed. We’ll take necessary measures including punishing the inspector in charge if this is not followed,” he said.