IOC blaze: ‘Massive fire at depot left no time to respond’

The magnitude of last month's fire at the Indian Oil Corporation depot in Jaipur was so massive that it left no time to respond,govt told the Lok Sabha.

The magnitude of last month’s fire at the Indian Oil Corporation depot in Jaipur was so massive that it left no time to respond despite a disaster management plan in place,the government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“Despite having the disaster management 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 leaving no time to respond,” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said in a statement in the Lok Sabha.

The fire at the IOC depot broke out on October 29 and continued for nearly 13 days. 11 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 had convened a meeting on November three of CEOs of pubic and private oil companies in the country 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 quarterly basis,” Deora said adding that all major as well as minor incidents in any such installations/setups in the country including that of private companies will be reported to Oil Industry Safety Directorate.

Deora said the IOC has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to those who lost their lives,Rs two lakh to those who were seriously injured and Rs one lakh to those who suffered minor injuries. This is in addition to the compensation offered by the government,he said.

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