AGARTALA, August 3 (TIWN): The state government is now contemplating to start CNG re-testing centers to figure out fitness and workability condition of vehicles running on compressed natural gases, official sources said. A highly placed source in the state Transport Department today said that the authorities are now increasingly growing concerned about the condition and fitness of the CNG operating system in gas vehicles. “We have the technology and commercial applications in testing centers to test petrol and diesel vehicles. But when it comes to CNG vehicles, we are really at a loss”, the source said.

A CNG conversion trader from the outskirts of Agartala city recently said that the CNG kits adaptable in most vehicles are manufactured for a shelf life of three years.

“Putting passengers inside a CNG vehicle, which has got no form of safety check to make sure the condition of the gas tanks or the combustion system isn’t volatile, is highly risky”, an official of the Transport Department said. He added that most vehicles are now converting to CNG to combat the sky-rocketing price of petrol.

In an effort to start a technologically well-equipped CNG testing centre, the Department of Industries and Commerce authorized one Tapendu Sarkar to start a safety and security check testing centre at Bodhjungnagar few years back. The unit never came up. A team from the Bajaj Company later obtained non-objection clearance from the Department of Industries and Commerce to start the unit but communication between the company and state government fell silent as well.

A local trader from Jirania was reportedly given the contract of setting up the re-testing unit. A plot of approximately 1.5 acres was allotted to the trader some 1.5 years back. A source in the Industries and Commerce Department said that the authorities are now expecting to operationalize the unit soon. However, the source said that there are disturbing reports that Tapendu Sarkar and the Bajaj Company representatives were threatened to stay away from setting up any CNG re-testing unit in Tripura following which both initiatives flopped.