Islamabad (July 07, 2017): The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has held Shell Pakistan Limited (SPL) responsible for the Ahmedpur Sharqia incident and imposed Rs10 million fine.
The regulatory body further directed the company to pay Rs1 million to heirs of each deceased and Rs0.5 million to each injured as compensation.
According to the details, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Friday a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell to pay about 257 million rupees ($2.4 million) in damages and compensation for a tanker explosion that killed more than 200 people last month.
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A copy of the report on the June 25 explosion held Shell Pakistan Ltd responsible for the massive blast in southern Punjab province after a tanker carrying gasoline for company rolled over.
In its report today, The energy regulator ordered Shell Pakistan to pay a penalty of 10 million rupees ($95,000). In addition, the regulator ordered the company to pay one million rupees ($9,478) in compensation to the families of each of those killed and half a million ($52,750) for each person injured.
OGRA findings revealed that the oil tankers carrying the product was not matching the standards specified by the rules of the land.
The company has been asked to pay the compensation within three days.
The authority released in investigation report into the oil tanker inferno here on Friday.
The report said that the oil tanker involved in the accident was not meeting minimum criteria and safety regulations.
It added that Shell Company, which hired the oil take, did not complied with the regulations of Ogra and its Explosive Department. It added that the fitness certificate of the oil tanker turned out to be fake and the vehicle was not meeting any technical standard in anyway.
The report said that for transporting 50 thousands litre oil it was necessary the tanker must have five axels. But the tanker which met the accident was of four axels.
It said that the local administration did not respond to the accident promptly and the Motorway police failed to sealed the accident site immediately.
The Ogra report attributed the ignition of fire to a lack of awareness among the general public.
The SPL also failed to submit a detailed report, only submitting a short preliminary one.
The report recommended greater vigilance regarding safety standards for oil manufacturing companies.
It recommended the Oil Companies Advisory Committee to ensure an aggressive campaign to make the public aware of hazards, and the local governments and departments to revisit their plans for patrolling and quick response.
The oil tanker overturned on a main highway while travelling from Karachi to Lahore, near the town of Ahmadpur East in Punjab province.
Some 215 people were killed when the tanker carrying oil caught fire after meeting accident in Ahmedpur Sharqia.
Apart from more than 150 people killed immediately in the fire, more than 100 people had suffered burn injuries in the incident which took place on June 25. Many injured succumbed to their injuries during treatment at different hospitals of the province.
Moreover, the company did not meet the requirements of the explosive department and fitness certificate provided by the transporter was fake. Besides this, the vehicle failed to fulfill the standard of the rules specified by the OGRA as the tanker carrying 50,000 liters of petrol had four axels instead of five.
After the tanker spill-over, there was no local administration and following the incident even the police failed to reach on time. Even the National Highway Authority police had not cordoned off the area.
If Shell company failed to pay the fine, it would dealt with the procedure defined by the regulatory authority.
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