The IOC Kochi Refineries is producing around 55 percent of required LPG for the state and the rest is brought to the state from Manglore Refinery. For the movement of the LPG, Contract is given to private contractors. LPG bullet tanker is moving from Manglore To Kozhikode,Palakkad and rest of Kerala regularly.
The movement of LPG tankers on road is exerting increased impact on our Roads.Major portion of the National Highways are double lane without median and width of the road is narrow.Lot of small town ships are also located in the highway.In addition to these lot of zero visibility curves are present on the road stretch.When the LPG Bullets start moving ,various category of vehicles coming behind are forced to trail for extended duration till convenient space is made available for over taking the bullets. Other Road users are forced to take risk while overtaking of the tankers.
The NH 66 National Highway as well as Road stretch of NH,towards Trivandrum side as well as in the north are very narrow .The movement of tankers in these road sector will exert more traffic pressure on roads.
The bullet tankers,normally moves in the night due to restriction. Even though they start moving at a gap of time,they prefer Convoy movement on road.This will make situation on the road more more worse and trailing vehicles are forced to take risk while over taking the convoy.
The presence of the Zero visibility sharp curves and zig zag road segments are making the movement of these tanker risky. Vattappara curve ,where number of accidents repeated ,is one of the notorious spot for change in stability of the vehicle ,if not properly steered and speed adjusted.Change in stability probably result in toppling of the vehicle without external force ,like hit with other vehicle etc.
Untimely occurrences
Normal Movement of the vehicles is during late hours when traffic flow is reduced.These accidents occur during these late hours.When such a mishap occurred in the late hours it is not only difficult for immediate rescue operations but also for alarming the residents at a perimeter of at least 500 meters for immediate evacuation.
Evacuation of inhabitants of the area is very important ,within very limited time span normally counts in minuets ,the inhabitants need to be evacuated from the location.Other wise possible pressure build up inside the vessel may lead to blast and the spontaneous fire of the area.During the late hours communication as well as evacuation is difficult as the inhabitants may be in the midst of deep sleep.This will increase the magnitude of the causalities.
Need of Special Purpose Vehicle
In order to deal with accidents of LPG bullet tankers,special purpose vehicles are required.Only one such vehicle is available at Ernakulam Only.This will delay proper rescue operation by hours.
The basic of the rescue operation starts transfer the remaining gas to other tanker,which requires attention of specialized manpower.
Road Blockades
When a Bullet tanker is involved in accident the only preventive measure normal authorities can afford is blocking the vehicular flow to the spot immediately as possible and to evacuate the location.Normally Electric Supply to the area will be disconnected till every thing get ready.This will take hours or even days.The main Highway will be blocked till the time make the traffic suffered.
Required Modifications
The most active suggestion to combat with this kind of accident is to make the roads safer for traffic of all kind of vehicles.
The road infrastructure need urgent improvement.Improvement on existing structure will not be sufficient to meet the purpose.New infrastructures are required.
Since the Kerala Cost is having lot of small ports and suitable location for construction of Gas terminal or bottling plants ,urgent priority need to be given for the construction of Water based Gas transfer to the destination .For this purpose terminal with gas pumping facilities need to be provided.
Another alternative is pumping LPG pumping from refineries directly to the bottling plants.
The second and third option will eliminate the movement of LPG Bullet tanks from the roads and thus provide total safety to all kind of road users.
The first option will not eliminate the tankers but providing better infrastructure will reduce the chance of road mishaps.
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