Patna: The residents of Dehri sub-division in Rohtas are virtually sitting on a tinderbox.

Reason: godowns of almost all LPG dealers of the town are situated in densely populated localities despite repeated reminders of the fire service station authorities to shift them to safer places.

"I am fed up with writing to the officials of the district administration to issue instruction to remove the godowns of LPG dealers from densely populated areas. I am at my wits' end how to express my concern over the matter pertaining to safety of human lives and their properties," said in-charge of Dehri fire service station Kamlesh Tiwary.

Tiwary told The Telegraph that the godowns of the four LPG leaders of the sub-divisional town, around 165km southwest of Patna, were located on Pali Road, Jakki Bigha, Anne Cut Road and Jai Hindi Cinema Road, which of late have witnessed a rapid growth in population. "The godowns of highly inflammable material are posing a threat to human lives," he added.

Tiwary regretted that even notices were served to the dealers concerned but to no avail. However, one of the dealers recently shifted his godown to Katar, about 7km away from the sub-divisional town. The residents of Pali Road had complained to the district magistrate against the dealer.

One of the four agencies (dealers) was provided a no-objection certificate from the sub-divisional fire office a few months ago, Tiwary revealed.

A resident said: "We are living under constant threat. We had also requested the district officials to shift the godowns of all the LPG dealers. But our petitions were thrown into the dustbin. What is more precious than human life?"

According to the 2015 Assembly election data, the number of voters in the Dehri Assembly constituency was around 2.5 lakh and around 1 lakh families in Rohas district availed LPG connections.

Efforts to contact the Indian Oil Corporation area manager Sanat Kumar Patra proved futile as he didn't pick up his cellphone.

Sasaram fire station officer Dinesh Choudhary said he also had drawn the attention of the state fire officers towards the callous attitude of the LPG dealers to seek an NOC from the fire office. "Nobody is read to pay any heed to our directives," he said.