GAS CANISTER BLASTS CONTINUE TO CLAIM VICTIMS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 14 (ANTARA) - The gas canister explosion in West Jakarta on Tuesday morning with two residents injured was the latest incident of gas stove blasts in many parts of the country.          The frequent gas canister explosions have so far killed at least 22 and injured 127 others since the government introduced a kerosene-to-gas conversion program in mid 2007.          The frequent 3-kg liquefied natural gas (LNG) canister explosions in the country have haunted and posed 'terror' to household users, creating unrest among the public and criticism against the government's kerosene to gas conversion program.          "We have received 63 complaints from the victims of 3-kg gas stove canister explosion since we set up command post for complaints at the Indonesian Congress office five days ago," activist Adrian Napitupulu of the People's Democratic Fortress (Bendra) organization said here on Tuesday.          Since the government had implemented the kerosene-to-gas conversion policy at last 190 gas cylinder-related blasts has been recorded.          The Center for Public Policy Studies (Puskepi) had revealed that the number of blasts tended to increase from 61 in 2008 and 50 in 2009 to 79 blasts up to July 2010.          The government introduced its kerosene conversion policy in mid 2007 as part of its efforts to reduce kerosene subsidy in the state budget and provided the poor with free 3kg gas stove canisters for free.          The number of 3-kg cylinders distributed so far had reached about 60 million units from the 45 million packages which were distributed since 2007.          In order to press the government to handle the gas explosion case in the country, Bendera which established a post in Jakarta last week will gather the victims family members to stage rallies at state-owned oil company Pertamina, the ministry of energy and mineral resources (ESDM) and the State Palace.          According to Bendera activist Adrian said Pertamina  was not convinced about consumers' safety in the use of its products because it did not provide a guarantee and insurance policy for users.          After all, Adrian said, the amount of Rp50 million each victim family received in compensation from Pertamina was too small compared with the risks the victims had to suffered, not to mention family members who were injured and killed or damage to their houses.          In the meantime, Ferdi Semaun, other Bendera activist, said that producers of 3kg gas canisters violated human rights because consumers were not given information on whether the gas stove tubes were proper for use or not.          "This also causes terror to consumers because it creates fear to them," he added.          As part of its attention to a series of 3kg gas cylinder explosions, the government had a field check last week. Three ministers, namely Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono, Industry Minister MS Hidayat and Minister for State Enterprises Mustafa Abubakar inspected a factory producing gas cylinders in the industrial area of Bekasi, West Java.           The ministers made the inspection as it was reported that the frequent explosions of gas stoves with 3-kg LPG canisters  were a result of substandard accessories such as regulators, valves and pipes which did not meet the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) requirement.           Substandard products have caused fatalities among the public. The government noted that in 2007, there were five cases of gas canister explosions with injured victims. In 2008 there 27 cases with two dead and 35 injured while in 2009 there were 30 blasts killing 12 victims and injuring 48 others.          Up to June 2010, a total of 33 blasts with 8 dead and 44 injured has been recorded.          The trade ministry said it had conducted inspections several times to factories which produced, assembled or sold stove pipes and regulators. It also confiscated productions which did not meet the SNI requirements.          In order to guarantee security and quality of gas cylinders, all gas canisters bearing state energy company Pertamina's label will be distributed only with the company's approval.          "There will be  new regulations on the production of new gas cylinders with Pertamina labels. All must be produced on  Pertamina's orders and they can be distributed only with  the state firm's  approval," Industry Minister MS Hidayat said.          According to Pertamina's spokesman Basuki Trikora Putra, the approval would be issued by Pertamina based on the result of inspections on the requirements of the Indonesian National  Standards (SNI).          "The SNI standards have been decided and Pertamina should check it," the minister said.          In the past two months Pertamina has assigned a task force to carry out supervision and internal evaluation with regard to the implementation of the government's kerosene-to-gas conversion program.          The office of the coordinating minister for people's welfare will coordinate the supervision of the conversion program and responsible for providing guidance for the people.          The supervision of supporting products such as cylinders, valves, pipes and regulators is entrusted to the ministry of industry together with Pertamina, while the ministry of trade is assigned to supervise the circulation in the market of supporting devices.          However, activists said that the best solution to prevent further accident was to replace the people?s gas canisters.   The Indonesian Consumers Institute Foundation (YLKI) said that the government should replace three-kg gas cylinders besides their pipes and regulators.           Tulus Abadi of the YLKI said that it would not be able to solve the problem of cylinder blast cases if the government only replaced cylinders accessories such as regulators and pipes.          Tulus Abadi said that based on data available at the National Standardization Agency (BSN), about 66 percent of 3-kg gas cylinders, 50 percent stoves, 20 percent regulators and even 100 percent pipes were not proper for use.           "There were many substandard gas cylinders circulating in the public. So the solution to the frequent cylinder gas explosions is to replace the cylinders," he said. (T.A014/a/H-NG/a014 ) 14-07-2010 00:53:5