But a startling video went viral recently, showing a CNG fuel station directly filling domestic LPG cylinders. People stood in long lines holding cylinders, waiting to get them refilled. Though the video has sparked controversy and debate, experts say the practice is unsafe and illegal.
It features consumers hauling their household LPG cylinders to a CNG station, an arrangement where attendants refill the cylinders. A lot of families that are running out or are not able to get a reliable supply of LPG seem to be taking this route. Yet here lies the danger. LPG and CNG are two different fuels, each stored under their own pressure system.
Domestic LPG cylinders hold liquefied petroleum gas at moderate pressures. With compressed natural gas CNG, however, it is stored at very high pressure. Filling LPG cylinders with CNG can cause leaks, ruptures, or explosions. Those in queues at stations like this are subject to a great deal of fire dangers. It’s well known, experts have said throughout many years, how unregulated refilling of cylinders can cause accidents and death.
Only licensed LPG distributors can refill cylinders under the Gas Cylinders Rules, 2016. Refilling LPG cylinders at CNG stations is explicitly forbidden under Indian law. These practices are punishable offenses, as has been expressed clearly by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). Penalties include cylinder seizures, loss of the licence, hefty fines and imprisonment.
In many areas LPG shortages or delivery delays lead people to use dangerous alternatives. Others feel that recharging at CNG stations is less expensive, others don’t recognize the hazards. The viral clip highlights that desperation and ignorance are the main ingredients for dangerous practice.
This video is getting more and more people talking about how it was made and how easy it is to perpetuate practices of this kind, but others are outraged at the fact that something so illegal as these have been made possible so far. Many asked that LPG be strictly enforced and supplied more evenly so that poor families do not resort to unsafe ways.
Safety and regulation are the very core of the video in which you see a CNG station refill LPG cylinders. Shortages also provide frustration, yet using unauthorized means can endanger lives. Only authorized distributors of LPG cylinders should be consulted, and accountability of supply should be ensured with the objective to deter further dangerous activities.
