KARACHI, Dec 27: As the police try and trace the driver of the oil tanker which overturned on Friday on Clifton’s Shahrah-i-Attar, spilling 44,000 litres of petrol in the process, the incident has lifted the lid on widespread violations of the relevant rules by the transporters and other stakeholders supplying the flammable substance, as they are restricted to supplying a maximum of 40,000 litres on a single journey.

Moreover, the transporters engaged in the extremely sensitive business that Dawn spoke to admitted that the oil tankers supplying petrol and other such products are hardly ever properly maintained or checked by the oil marketing companies to sustain minimum financial and environmental losses in case of an accident.

“You will hardly find any tanker having a maximum capacity of standard 40,000 litres,” said Mir Yousuf Shehwani, chairman All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA). “More than 10,000 oil tankers operate within Karachi, but the below par quality of their zinc sheets and unchecked production of tanks on conventional lines has exposed these vehicles to danger more than ever before.”

He said hundreds of workshops in the city were engaged in producing tanks for oil tankers and each had its own design and raw material to meet the desired job.

They took hardly three days to prepare any size of oil tank and then fixed it to the tanker, he added.

“Though the standard size should not exceed 40,000 litres, the trend shows that these workshops have been producing tanks not less than 55,000 litres,” added Mr Shehwani. “We have conveyed our concerns to the authorities time and again but in vain.”

In Friday’s incident, not only did the police find that the oil tanker overturned in the afternoon even though there is currently a ban on the movement of heavy vehicles in the city limits from 7am to 11pm, but it was also observed that the vehicle (LSA-7454) was not being properly maintained to carry out the job.

The police findings were in agreement with what Tariq Khan Jadoon, owner of the overturned tanker, had to say. Mr Jadoon admitted that the tank of the vehicle carrying 44,000 litres of petrol was supposed to be divided into two compartments, but the accident exposed its level of maintenance.

“The compartments are made to divide an equal quantity of the substance in each compartment,” he said. “In our tanker there were compartments but somehow it developed a fault or broke due to lack of maintenance. Also, the companies do not ask for such practice, as they only want the job done.”

Mr Jadoon said that since the driver of the oil tanker fled after the incident, he could not describe the exact reason for the accident, which caused the spilt petrol to be diverted into the drains that lead to the Arabian Sea, a move that is likely to have grave environmental repercussions.

Surprisingly, the operators told Dawn that the manufacturing of oil tankers’ tanks and their maintenance was not a regulated business, allowing for the traditional manufacture of zinc sheets without suggesting any measures for proper maintenance.

“In our business, we are engaged with the officials of the excise department, the NHA (National Highway Authority) and other institutions for documentation or other formalities,” said Mr Shehwani. “But not once are the tankers checked or their owners questioned about the maintenance. Such attitude allows low-quality production of tanks and violation of the defined rules.”