Page 222 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

concerned tehsil. The secretariat of the committee was established in the
office of the Secretary District Transport Authority. The committee became
operative with effect from the first day of the year 2019, and started to review
each and every accident taking place within the jurisdiction of each tehsil of
Muzaffargarh on site, which resulted in any death or serious injuries, and
took or suggested the remedial action. Furthermore, the data so collected
was to be continuously analysed to identify the pattern, causes, trends and
vulnerable sites of road accidents. Long term preventive and corrective
actions were then to be taken or recommended accordingly. Soon the
initiative was taken note of by the Chief Minister office, and directions were
issued to other districts too to follow suit.
BAN ON USE OF CNG/LPG CYLINDERS IN PUBLIC SERVICE

VEHICLES
Every now and then accidents taking place due to illegal and faulty fitting of
CNG/LPG were reported in the media, in which, more often than not,
precious human lives were lost because of fire or any other associated
reason. Many of such accidents involved school vans in which small children
were burnt to death. While no effective and sustained action was being taken
by the concerned departments and authorities, others did not seem
perturbed either. The District Administration Muzaffargarh decided to take
up the matter with the OGRA through Secretary Transport Department,
Government of the Punjab in the larger interest of the general public
throughout Pakistan and wrote a formal letter on May 21, 2019. It was
pointed out that the cylinders were being fitted beneath the rear seats of the
public service vehicles in complete violation of the Motor Vehicles Rules 1969
and Compressed Natural Gas Safety Rules 1992, endangering the lives of the
passengers. It was therefore proposed that a complete ban should be placed
in fixing of cylinders inside the passenger compartments or beneath the rear
seats in such vehicles. The Secretary Transport Department referred the
matter onwards to the OGRA, which conveyed its concurrence to the proposal
on July 17, 2019, and instructed all the provincial governments as well as
the IG National Highways & Motorway Police to start a crackdown against
public service vehicles having CNG/LPG cylinders fitted inside the passenger
compartments. A campaign was started accordingly. However, the
instructions so issued by the OGRA were later on suspended by the Lahore
High Court on a petition filed by the All Pakistan CNG Association. The
matter therefore came to a standstill and was sub judice at the time of the
finalization of the gazetteer.

ESTABLISHMENT OF INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (ICU) AT DHQ
MUZAFFARGARH

The need for an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a hospital cannot be
overemphasized. Unfortunately, however, Muzaffargarh did not have any

217