Pitching for an umbrella statutory body to formulate quality and safety policies for oil & gas entities, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said the current framework of having multiple agencies is like a “khichdi”.
Currently, safety aspects of onshore or onland upstream oil and gas production installations come under Directorate General Mines Safety (DGMS) which is under Ministry of labour.
The offshore installations come under Petroleum Ministry’s Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD).On the other hand, oil refineries and pipeline come under Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion of Commerce Ministry regulates petrol pumps.
“This is a khichdi (mixture),” Pradhan said after giving away OISD safety awards for 2012-13 here.A comprehensive, futurist looking policy that involves best global pratices and state-of-the-art technology to provide cost effective solutions needs to be evolved.“Quality and safety issues should be under one umbrella (organisation). It is not a prestige issue for me. It is totally acceptable to me that the safety umbrella body comes under some other ministry,” he said, adding that he has been talking to various departments to evolve a consensus.