PANJIM: Goa government has decided to put in place disasters response team in the state.
State Legislative Assembly was informed by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat that government had decided to constitute such a team on the lines of response team of National Disaster Management, who will train them.Kamat informed the House that an all party meeting was called on Tuesday to discuss the functioning of the Naphtha pipeline.“During the meeting it was decided to take all stakeholders into confidence before deciding on safety measures to be adopted to avoid such disasters,” he said.
Chief Minister was replying to a Calling Attention motion tabled by Deputy Speaker Mauvin Godinho, who pointed to the grave anxiety in the minds of the people of Vasco with regard to the dangerous Naphtha pipeline existing from Vasco to Zuarinagar.Deputy Speaker urged state government to come straight to the point and inform of various measures adopted to avoid such circumstances in near future.
State had witnessed a massive fire in mid-August for a pipeline carrying Naphtha from Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) to tanks of Zuari Indian Oil Tanking Limited (ZIOTL).The fire has led to the death of five people.Kamat said that the government is also planning to adopt sensors management along with directing the industries to adopt readily available measures, which were absent at Vasco, when fire broke out.The directions would also be issued to the industries to carryout site inspections at least once in a fortnight.Kamat said that unless all these measures are adopted the pipeline won’t be made functional.
Meanwhile, Kamat informed Assembly that government has permitted flushing and repairs of the pipeline.“However, before re-commissioning of this pipeline, government will see that Chief Controller of Explosives (CCOE) will depute its representatives to ensure that the re-commissioning will be allowed only after due certification of safety procedures being put up in place by ZIOTL,” he said.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar also attacked the negligence on the part of ZIOTL and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), who carried out excavation work without prior permission.
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