India seems to be faced with a serious problem of untested and unsafe LPG cylinders in circulation, contrary to what the government told the Lok Sabha last Thursday.

Deepak K. Basil, a Ludhiana-based businessman, has collected evidence that shows that Jitin Prasada, the minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, was wrong in informing the Lok Sabha that there were no overused and untested LPG cylinders in circulation.

In a letter written to the ministry in June, 2010, Basil cited a sample of 168 untested cylinders in circulation. “LPG domestic gas cylinders of 14.2 kg which are due for statutory testing are regularly filled, transported and supplied by the Indian Oil Company Ltd (IOC)., to their registered consumers, thus playing with the safety of the customers," he wrote.

The ministry has not yet bothered to reply to his letter written on June 19, 2010.

Basil found that some cylinders in circulation in Ludhiana were of 1993 vintage and still untested. “There are more unfit cylinders in circulation in Ludhiana and whole of Punjab, which have not been checked for many years. There may be cylinders from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) also. The problem is sure to be much bigger and widespread than the sample I have collected,” Basil told Governance Now.

He said he counted the unfit, untested cylinders supplied to his home and his neighbours for eight months. “Some of my acquaintances also told me about the suspect quality of LPG cylinders; so I thought I should take this matter further,” Basil said. The untested cylinders in circulation pose unassessed risk to life and property, he added.

IOC, which owns 'Indane' LPG business, has not responded to Governance Now's phone calls and an email sent last Friday, asking for a response to Basil's complaint and evidence collected by him.

The government of India has clear cut safety guidelines in this regard. The Gas Cylinders Rules, 2004, prescribe the periodicity of the testing to be 10 years from the date of manufacturing of the cylinder and subsequently every five years. Only cylinders satisfying the fitness norms should be put back into circulation.

If a cylinder fails the test, it's taken out of circulation and de-shaped in line with BIS code IS-8868-1988. The cylinders manufactured before 2000 need to be tested after seven years of their manufacture in line with the same code.
Basil blames the public-sector oil companies for the negligence. “The companies do not adhere to the guidelines. There are no regular checks done by the companies, which means accidents are waiting to happen.”

In his letter written to the ministry, Basil demanded that the filling and distribution of untested LPG dealers should be stopped immediately till IOC got such cylinders tested.

Jitin Prasada said in the Lok Sabha last week that there was no LPG cylinder in circulation which could be termed as overused. “All LPG cylinders are periodically inspected and tested as per the Gas Cylinders Rules, 2004… Only cylinders satisfying the fitness norms are put back into circulation,” the minister said in written reply to a question.

Governance Now had reported on June 14 that Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had been allowing a large number of products, including valve fittings for use with LPG cylinders, to be sold in the market without the mandatory testing of samples, betraying consumers' trust and committing financial bungling.

While the BIS Certification Regulations 1988 require the Bureau to draw and test at least two market and two factory samples for a product quality assessment, not even one factory sample and one market sample of a product are being collected and tested, shows the official records provided to Kishanlal, an information seeker, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

The untested or undertested products in the market could include things like valve fittings for use with LPG cylinders and multifunction valve assembly for permanently fixed LPG containers for automotive use.