Panipat oil depot a sitting duck

The Bharat Petroleum Depot in Panipat, Haryana, is a key oil installation, situated just 90 km away from the Capital.

It stores about 40,000 kilolitres of petrol and diesel at any given point of time. This is enough reason for this depot to be a potential target for terrorists.

Interestingly, a potential terrorist does not even need explosives for a strike in such an installation; just a matchstick can do enough damage. This is the reason why oil installations need watertight security blanket at all times.

After the 7/11 terror attack in Mumbai, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has declared a red alert at all oil refineries, depots and installations. But are the oil installations geared to meet the emerging security challenge?

Based on specific intelligence that the petrol adulteration mafia in Haryana has easy access to this depot, the CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team did a spot-check only to discover alarming security lapses at this key oil installation.

In normal circumstances, entering this high-security depot should not be easy. But the CNN-IBN team made its entry quite easily, only to prove that it is as easy for any potential terrorist to enter this oil installation.

It took just Rs 500 to facilitate the entry. The petrol mafia, of course, pays thousands of rupees to enter sensitive oil installations like this Panipat Bharat Petroleum Depot.

This exposes a major security lapse and frightening possibilities in the event of a terrorist sleeper cell making its entry into the depot just like the petrol mafia people do.
When the CNN-IBN correspondent cracked the watertight security of the depot, he was even carrying a matchbox with him.

Strangely, Rs 500 was enough to make the guard sidestep every procedure and let a potential danger in.

When contacted, a Bharat Petroleum spokesperson outlined an elaborate security protocol at all of its oil installations.

They include frisking at the time of entry, issuing of photo passes to all visitors, checking of visitors and vehicles for explosive material and restriction of visitors' entry to the administrative area of the oil installation.

But when the CNN-IBN team made its entry, nobody asked them for any identity proof. There was no body search and the matchbox entered undetected. The team first entered the Administrative Block and then visited other offices, including even the sensitive depot laboratories. Nobody stopped them.

Next, the team headed towards the fuel storage area, an ultra-sensitive area. A sign on the site clearly states, "Entry is restricted only to people with Identity Cards." But the CNN-IBN team was inside without any identity card.

Finally, they reached the filling area, where fuel is loaded on to tankers. In fact, the CNN-IBN correspondent was within inches from the storage facility for 40,000 kilolitres of petrol and diesel with a matchbox in his pocket.

But there was no one to stop him, no one to ask him who he is or what is he doing there.
"I think it's most serious. I think the security system doesn't exist there and terrorists can take advantage of it any day and (in such an eventuality) it will be a very big problem for us. Casualty is not the only concern; the entire depot will be blown up. The question is nobody asked you when you were roaming around, as to who you are and why are you here – I am afraid this is a very serious security lapse," Maj Gen Afsir Karim, a security expert, said.