Forkan Chowdhury, assistant director of BRTA, said they issue fitness after checking date of gas cylinders and retesting certificate.
“We don’t give fitness certificate if the vehicle uses local cylinder,” he said. “Explosion-related accidents occur due to local cylinders.”
He said they check the certificates when drivers come to take fitness certificate every year.
“We examine retesting certificate after five years. After checking certificate and gas cylinder, we give fitness certificate. We also often conduct drives through mobile court,” he said requesting everyone to be aware about rules of using gas cylinders.
Md Iqbal Hossain, deputy director of Laxmipur fire service and civil defence, said gas cylinder explodes when they are past the date of their expiry.
“It’s necessary to retest gas cylinders before the expiry date. If everyone follows rules of using gas cylinder, then the number of accidents will come down,” he said.
Expired gas cylinder use in Laxmipur vehicles goes unabated
Photo:UNB
The widespread use of expired gas cylinders in vehicles ignoring official directives is leading to a high number of accidents across the district but the administration is doing little to address the problem, locals alleged.
There were 15 gas cylinder-related accidents in the district last year.
Local sources said gas cylinders are being used in around 15,000 vehicles in the district and most them are well beyond their expiry dates. Gas cylinders are supposed to be examined after five years but owners and drivers of the vehicle are not following the rules.
Most of the drivers are unaware about the rules and lifespan of cylinders. They accused the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) of handing out fitness certificates in exchange for money instead of checking the vehicles. But BRTA officials rejected the allegation.