Negligence Caused Hpcl Disaster: Bjp Team

The BJP yesterday alleged that HPCL disaster in Visakhapatnam was caused due to gross negligence on the part of the authorities, and demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge to fix responsibilities. It warned an agitation if the government failed to do so.

A routine departmental inquiry would not suffice as such an inquiry invariably tries to protect subordinates and cover-up departmental failures, party vice-president Madan Lal Khurana said. He headed a three-member BJP delegation to Visakhapatnam that returned yesterday. The other two members were party general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu and Dileep Sanghani, MP from Gujarat.

Sanghani, who is chairman of the parliamentary committee on petitions, yesterday submitted a memorandum to the standing committee of the Union ministry of petroleum detailing the findings of the BJPs committee. A meeting of the standing committees meeting is scheduled for today.

The HPCL managements negligence of the refinery units maintenance appears to be the main reason behind the Visakhapatnam disaster, the BJP committee concluded. Two minor incidents had occurred in the recent past, but the management failed to take adequate safety measures, it alleged.

The refinery did not have the foam to fight the blaze and after the fire, 10,000 tonnes of foam had to be flown in from Baroda and another 1,000 tonnes from the Eastern Naval command.

The committee has also gathered that the refinery did not have an adequate stock of the chemical which, when mixed with LPG, works as a smelling agent. This is perhaps the reason why the gas leakage culd not be detected in time, it added.