Suo Motu statement by Petroleum Minister in the Lok Sabha regdrding fire at IOC’s Depot near Jaipur

Following is the text of a Suo Motu Statement tabled in the Lok Sabha today by Shri Murli Deora, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas regarding the incident of fire at POL Depot of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Sanganer, Jaipur :

“First of all, I wish to express my deepest sympathy for the families of the victims of this tragic incident.

2. The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) terminal at Sanganer, Jaipur was commissioned in 1995 and is spread over 105 acres of land. The terminal has 11 storage tanks for Motor Spirit (MS), High Speed Diesel (HSD) and Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO). The fire started at around 7:15 PM on 29th October, 2009. It is estimated that petroleum products worth approx. Rs. 191 crore were lost and the replacement cost of buildings and machinery is estimated to be over Rs. 160 crore. All 11 tanks in the depot have been completely destroyed. The product is insured and the time frame for rebuilding the infrastructure at the terminal would be about two years. 11 deaths have been confirmed of which 6 are employees of IOC. Over 100 people are injured of which 7 have suffered serious injuries. When this terminal was commissioned in 1995, it was situated away from the city and in an isolated location. The Sitapur Industrial Area adjoining this terminal was developed by the Rajasthan Industrial Investment Corporation (RIICO) in 1997, after which the growth of this area took off.

3. It is reported that the blasts in the Depot have damaged the roof, window panes and walls of nearby factories, shopping complex, some residential buildings. The employees of the nearby factories and local residents in the vicinity were subsequently evacuated by the local authorities. The fire incident affected vehicular traffic on a stretch on NH-12 (Jaipur-Tonk-Kota Road) and also railway traffic of Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur route.

4. On learning about the tragic incident on the night of 29.10.2009, I instructed the officials of oil companies to take necessary steps to provide medical help to all the injured and to liaise with the state government to control the fire by moving experts and equipment from nearby locations such as Mathura, Delhi, Panipat and Hazira. Immediately the same night senior officials of IOC were rushed to the location.

5. I, alongwith Chairman, IOC and other senior officials reached Jaipur on the morning of 30.10.2009 to personally see the efforts to control the fire, liaise with State Government and ensure adequate medical facilities for the injured apart from ensuring no disruption in the supplies to the public. I visited the SMS Hospital, Jaipur to inquire about the health of the injured.

6. On the same day, after discussions with Chief Minister of Rajasthan, IOC announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 10 lakh to those who lost their lives and Rs. 2 lakhs to those who were seriously injured, and Rs. 1 lakh to those who suffered minor injuries, in addition to the compensation offered by the State Government.

7. A seven member inquiry committee under the chairman ship of Shri M.B. Lal, Ex- C&MD of HPCL was constituted by the Ministry immediately to inquire into the causes of the incident and to suggest remedial measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents. The committee will submit its report within 60 days.

8. On the request of the Rajasthan Government to provide relief to nearby industries, IOC announced an adhoc relief package amounting to Rs. 50 crore, which has been released to Rajasthan State Industrial Investment Corporation (RIICO) as an interim relief for the small and medium industries adversely affected by the fire incident.

9. I would like to inform this august House that this Depot was equipped with firefighting equipment and facilities with Disaster Management Plan in line with Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD) guidelines and statutory norms. Despite having the disaster management plan and all safety devices in place as per OISD and norms of Explosives Department of the Government of India, it could not be put in use to fight the fire in view of the nature and magnitude of the disaster leaving no time to respond.

10. During the course of the fire the Chief Minister of Rajasthan was personally monitoring the situation. Regular spot reviews of the situation were taken by a Crisis Management Group formed by the State Government, involving Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of Rajasthan, Chief Fire Officer, Jaipur, State Fire Brigade, Collector Jaipur, State Police and Executive Director of Oil Industry Safety Directorate. The Army, fire teams from Essar, ONGC, GAIL and other national oil companies were available to take care of any eventuality. Experts on the spot were of the view to allow the product to burn and prevent further possible damage to life and property in the vicinity of the site outside the Terminal instead of trying to fight the fire which had possibilities of leading to greater damage.

11. All these installations are regularly audited for safety purposes by OISD appointed independent safety auditors. However, to review the safety and security at oil & gas installations in the country, the Ministry convened a meeting on 3.11.2009, which was attended by CEOs of public and private oil companies operating in the country. All the companies shared their own experience in dealing with such incidents, agreed to share information on such matters among themselves and also agreed to share resources/infrastructure in future in the event of such unfortunate events. The decisions taken in the meeting are given in Annexure.

12. Subsequent to this tragic incident, it has been ensured that there is no report of shortage of supplies of MS and HSD to the general public in the areas fed by Sanganer depot of IOC on account of the fire incident. Alternate supplies are being sourced from depots of IOC located at Bharatpur, Ajmer, Hanumangarh, Chitorgarh, and depot of HPCL at Bagru which was inaugurated in February 2009 and is located very close to Jaipur.

13. All the fires have burnt out and emission of smoke completely stopped by 6:00 AM on 11.11.2009. IOC is taking measures to prevent any further fire / explosion due to any accumulation of petroleum products in the damaged pipelines, etc. OISD is also constantly monitoring the situation.

14. I would like to assure this august House that the Government is making its best efforts to help the affected families and to prevent such incidents in future.

. . . . .

ANNEXURE

Decisions taken in the meeting to review Security on 3.11.09 at New Delhi

(1) All companies shall take measures to promote safety consciousness and training on safety requirement at all levels. The message of zero tolerance in matters of safety has to be conveyed to all concerned.

(2) All oil and gas installations and transportation systems in the country will carry out self safety audit conforming to statutory norms and risk assessment, including OISD standards by 31.12.2009. Oil companies will submit the reports to OISD which in turn will submit a consolidated report to MOPNG.

(3) The decision taken in the 27th Meeting of Safety Council held on 18th September 2009 in MOPNG regarding empowerment of OISD with statutory status would be expedited. OISD will be further strengthened with additional manpower from oil companies.

(4) The Safety Council to be expanded to include private sector refineries and offshore & other installations.

(5) All oil and gas companies in the country must update their standard operating procedures (SOPs) for operations and maintenance practices for all countrywide installations / setups under due technical supervision and attention, availing the benefit of best practices in the country and abroad. A strict implementation of such standard operating procedure (SOPs) will be ensured. All oil and gas companies will submit reports on SOPs and its due implementation to OISD by 31.12.2009.

(6) All oil and gas installations will have their safety audit done on quarterly basis. All major as well as minor incidents in any such installations/setups in the country including that of private companies will be reported to OISD.”

RCJ/Suo Motu-Jaipur Fire 20/11/2009
(Release ID :54329)