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Massive IOC fire left no time to respond, Deora tells Lok Sabha

Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora informed the Lok Sabha on Friday that the magnitude of last month’s fire at the Indian Oil Corporation depot in Jaipur was so massive that it virtually left no time to put in place a well formulated disaster management plan.

“Despite having the disaster management plan and all safety devices in place, it could not be put in use to fight the fire in view of the nature and magnitude of the disaster,” Mr. Deora said in a suo motu statement in the House.

The fire broke out on October 29 and continued for nearly 13 days.

Oil companies’ meet

Eleven persons, including six IOC employees, were killed and 100 injured in the blaze in which petroleum products worth Rs. 191 crore were destroyed.

The Petroleum Ministry convened a meeting on November 3 of CEOs of pubic and private oil companies where it was agreed that all companies shall take measures to promote safety consciousness and training of safety requirement at all levels.

“All oil and gas installations will have their safety audit done on a quarterly basis. All major as well as minor incidents in any such installations, including those of private companies will be reported to the Oil Industry Safety Directorate,” Mr. Deora said.

Ex-gratia

The IOC has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of those who lost their lives, Rs. 2 lakh to the seriously injured and Rs. 1 lakh to those who suffered minor injuries.

This was in addition to the compensation offered by the government, he said.

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