Probe faults IOC management for Jaipur fire

An independent probe faulted the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation management for the devastating blaze raging for 11 days in its Jaipur terminal in October, killing 11 and wounding 45 others. The tragedy would have been averted but for the remote leak stopping device lying unrepaired for six years.

The 7-member committee, headed by former Hindustan Petroleum chairman M B Lal attributed the fire to lack of safety procedures and human error, resulting in burning of 60,000 kilolitres of petroleum products worth nearly Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.8 billion).

It said the fire engulfed the entire depot because of "gross negligence" in leakage of petrol during transfer from a storage tank and the remote leak stopping device not functional to prevent the disaster.

"The basic or root cause is an absence of site specific written operating procedures, absence of leak stopping devices from a remote location and insufficient understanding of hazards, risks and consequences," Lal told reporters a day after submitting the inquiry report to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora. The committee also found design flaws in the depot to handle such catastrophe.

The probe report discloses the Oil Industry Safety Directorate, a government agency responsible for conducting safety audits of oil installations, had found the leak stopping device not working in the Jaipur terminal in an audit in 2003. It, however, glossed over the directorate's responsibility to ensure compliance of its recommendations.

Lal said: "Despite the recommendation of the 2003 audit by OISD, the inquiry found that "the remote leak stopping device was never operational in the last six years."