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Huge diesel stocks render buildings in Bangalore into powder kegs

Establishments stocking large quantities of fuel for generators pose grave risk.

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There’s a Carlton Tower-like situation in the making in several parts of the central business districts of the city. Unscheduled power cuts, and the consequent reliance on diesel generator (DG) sets, are forcing buildings to store large quantities of diesel to ensure that fuel is never in short supply. But this storage may prove dangerous in case of a fire-like situation, similar to that of Carlton Towers, especially in areas where these high rises stand close by.

Commercial areas like Brigade Road, CMH Road, Commercial Street and even high-rise buildings that store diesel face grave danger if proper measures are not adopted in hoarding this excess fuel. “Shops are closely packed in Brigade Road. Most of them either have diesel or petrol generators. Each generator requires at least 10 litres to run for two hours. In case of even a minor fire accident in any one shop, there is  high possibility that it would spread to all the shops on this stretch,” Suhail Yusuff, secretary, Brigade Shops and Establishments Association (BSEA), said, adding that at least 15 to 20 shops on the stretch had stored over 100 litres of diesel.

Imtiaz Ahmed, president, CMH Road Traders’ Association, said that unscheduled power cuts had forced them to use DG sets. “We are forced to use DG sets as the power cuts are very unscheduled. Almost 500 commercial establishments on CMH Road have DG sets,” he said.

BK Goyal, secretary, Bangalore Central Traders’ Association, said that DG sets were any day safer than UPS systems. He said that in case of a short circuit, the situation could turn out to be more dangerous where a UPS system is used, when compared to a situation where DG sets are used.

While commercial establishments are facing a threat from stored fuel, Krishna Kumar, president, Peenya Industries Association, said that industrial areas had escaped this threat as they hardly used DG sets. “Industries are suffering losses due to unscheduled power cuts. The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has promised to issue a schedule of the load shedding. Once this schedule is in place, we will declare staggered holidays for different areas being affected by the power cut,” he said.
 

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