Alarmed by the use of small gas cylinders in the recent serial bomb blasts inside and outside Mahabodhi temple premises at Bodh Gaya, the Bihar Government has directed its officials as well as authorities of oil companies to enforce its ban order on sale and use of such type of cylinders strictly.
State Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak told mediapersons on Saturday that both sale and use of small gas cylinders without proper connections are already illegal in the State but oil companies have not taken very effective steps to enforce the ban order so far.
He said that three oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum — have been asked to conduct raids at shops selling them and also hotels and restaurants using them.
Small gas cylinders of two to three kgs filled with nails and ball-bearings were used by terrorists to trigger 10 bomb blasts at Bodh Gaya on July 7. These cylinders were connected with detonators and watches for causing low intensity explosions, which had left two monks injured when they were worshipping inside the temple premises.
A manager of Indian Oil said that his company had supplied nearly 3,000 gas cylinders of five kg each to the listed 2,000 consumers in the State. He said that only a few of them, however, are refilling their 5 kg cylinders.
The Minister has now directed the Indian Oil officers to write letters to those 5 kg gas cylinder consumers who have not refilled their cylinders for more than six months. All these consumers will be directed either to refill their cylinders or deposit them with the company.
A meeting between the Minister and officers of three oil companies was also held in Patna late last evening to fine tune the strategy to plug loopholes presently existing in sale and supply of small gas cylinders in the State.
The State Government has also decided to initiate tough action against those having small gas cylinders without valid connections for the purpose. The Government will also take action against those gas agencies which are located close to a shop where a small gas cylinder is found during raids to be conducted by the police. The responsibility would also be fixed on the Station House Officer (SHO) concerned in such a situation.
It will be interesting to see how much the latest initiative taken by the State Government will improve the situation and check the rampant use of small gas cylinders for the commercial purpose in absolutely illegal manner.