‘Advise immediate sterilization at riffling stations’
SRINAGAR: The cooking gas cylinders can be carriers of deadly Covid-19 and that there is a dire need of following a proper mechanism while handling the LPG cylinders by both—supplying agency and the consumers, health experts stressed Friday.
They said that since LGP cylinders are made of Iron and that the Covid-19 may remain attached to LPG cylinder for at least eight to nine hours, it has become mandatory for the both the supplying agents of LPG that include Indane, Hindustan Petroleum (HP), JAKFED etc to follow certain important guidelines.
Talking to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Jagmoan Singh Raina, who heads Kashmir Gas Agency, that distributes Indane LPG cylinders across Kashmir, said that he has provided personal protection equipment (PPE) to all his men including those who are part of door to door distribution of cylinders. “I have asked my employees to ensure proper handwashing after collection of three to four cylinders,” he said, adding that there is a great risk in transmitting the virus as his employees take cylinders from homes and also give them a refilled one.
“To my knowledge, the gas cylinder which is made of iron, can keep the virus alive on its surface for eight to nine hours. I have requested the Indane Company to ensure sterilization of every cylinder during its refilling process,” Raina said. “There is lot of human intervention from refilling of a cylinder to the stage it reaches consumer’s home. So the chances of transmission of virus is very high.”
He said that every single day, thousands of LPG cylinders are distributed to consumers across Kashmir alone from the Indane Company. Head of Department at Chest Disease hospital Srinagar told KNO, said that each and every cylinder is must to go through proper sanitization process. “The procedure to sanitize the LPG cylinder should take place from the company itself and till it reaches the consumers,” the doctor said.