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Jaipur
Foam-carrying fire tenders have been moved from Mathura, Panipat and Ahmedabad to douse the fire raging for more than 18 hours at the Indian Oil Corp's fuel depot near hear that has killed six of the company's employees.
The fire, which started due to a leakage in one of the valves at around 7.30pm yesterday, continues to rage in five of the 13 tanks that stored petrol, diesel and kerosene. The actual fire fighting is expected to begin before evening.
Petroleum minister Murli Deora, who flew in here early this morning, said, "There is not much we can do currently. We have to let all of petrol and diesel to burn before fire tenders can even go anywhere near the burning tanks."
Deora said the IOC will give an ex-gratia of Rs10 lakh to the kin of those killed in the fire and Rs2 lakh to those seriously injured. Rs 1 lakh would be given to those with minor injuries.
This is besides the compensation announced by the Rajasthan government," he said.
An IOC official said the tank farm catered to the fuel requirement of Rajasthan. Three kerosene tanks and two petrol storage tanks were safe. The 35 water-carrying fire tenders rushed by the state government, would be ineffective in fighting the fire and they are being used for cooling the area around the tanks.
Deora said a five-member committee headed by MB Lal, former chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, will go into the causes and suggest holistic safety measures. The committee, which also has executive director of Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD) as member secretary, will submit its report in six weeks.
All those killed were IOC employees while five others were seriously injured. 40 others sustained minor injuries.
Deora said the tank farm feeds the supply depots of IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum and alternate arrangements have already been made to ensure that there is no fuel shortage in Rajasthan.
Specialised fire fighting teams have reached Jaipur from Mumbai and Delhi and have begun assessing the situation.
"The initial assessment suggests that it may take be late in the evening when the entire fuel burns out and we are able to contain the fire," the IOC official said, adding because of the intensity of the fire it is not possible to get even near the site.
Black clouds of smoke continue to billow from the tanks, and could be seen at from a distance of 10km on the Jaipur-Tonk highway.
