Bhubaneswar, Feb. 6: The municipal corporation will procure a vehicle to tackle emergency situations, such as the one in Ganjam where an oil tanker overturned recently killing three persons and blocking the NH-16 for several hours.

The emergency vehicle, which operates with a technical team, will be equipped with tools such as water jets and bio-solvents to flush away if hazardous chemicals are spilt on the road. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, in association with the directorate of factories and boilers, have also decided to carry out an awareness programme to ensure safe handling of hazardous materials in the city. Hazardous materials are frequently stored and used in the factories in various industrial estates across the city. Many companies transport such materials via NH-16 and NH-203 every day.

Deputy director of factories and boilers Malay Kumar Pradhan, during a meeting with BMC officials, said that the state should have an emergency vehicle to tackle fire caused by accidents involving transport of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other hazardous products.

The state doesn't have any such vehicle to fight such incidents. In case of the accident in Ganjam, an emergency vehicle from Visakhapatam was brought, but the process took a lot of time.

Pradhan said poisonous gases and inflammable chemicals, such as chlorine, propane, methylene, toluene disocyanate, acetylene, oxygen and aircraft turbine fuel always posed a danger to the safety of the people. "The civic authorities should be aware about their location, surroundings and possible ways to fight an emergency situation," he said.

Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "We will write to the authorities to provide an emergency vehicle for our use in the near future. Such vehicles have become all the more necessary as the petro-chemical complex is coming up at Paradip." There are 88 industrial units in the city. The BMC has decided to analyse seasonal hazard risk and also other risks according to the location of the wards and the possible degree of vulnerability.