35. Questioning CCE ( Mr M. Anbunathan) for his conclusion overlooking safety aspects!
Considering the Govt. of India mandate to establish the crude oil storage inventory, I moved an application for a relook at that time existing Petroleum Rules with the CCE department sometime in 1999. As I was transferred to the Telecommunication in Reliance I could not follow it up with the statutory authorities then. My deputy Mr K Prabhakaran took over the tank farm project management services and he followed it up continuously. Mr Anbunathan became CCE in 2002 and he was looking into the case. That was the time Reliance management also planned to implement the second refinery-JERP SEZ, a ditto copy of the phI DTA refinery. It necessitated additional crude storage tanks in the MTF area to receive the VLCC (very large capacity carriers) international ships but there was no land area available ! Luckily, as we executed the phI crude tanks layout with a full 1 D interdistance but the Rules calling only 1/2 D interdistance, the project team thought that Reliance can approach the authorities for their review and approval by creating an intermediate barrier within the existing large dyke. It so happened, that was the time the GOI was also serious in reviewing the inventory provisions of all Indian refineries post Kargil war. The petroleum ministry gave a directive to the statutory authorities to keep this in picture while reviewing any fresh application from any refinery in India. So Mr MA had a task in hand; added to it, the ministry asked him to ensure technical clearance to JERP projects as that was the first SEZ refinery coming up. In technical terms he had a challenge with respect to the dyke volume capacity Vs land area constraint! To overcome this impasse he formed a technical consultancy committee drawing personnel from various operating refineries ( all of them were from government established PSUs then) to review and clear the case. As most of the members were from the operations group only, they were very particular from the angle of dyke capacity and insisted on it. That made Reliance and CCE to opt for increasing the dyke wall height from the earlier 2M to 4M ( which included the original outer boundary and the intermedia partition wall). Mr MA was very happy that his responsibility to clear that proposal has been eased and he approved it then. Unfortunately nobody had viewed that from a safety angle ! The original Rule makers arrived at 2M elevation ,only from the angle of how a stranded person can climb and escape at any time of emergency? A 1/2 M exceptional allowance rights to CCE (by position)were provisioned in the law. But here 2M deviations were recommended and approved without looking at' how a stranded person can climb 4M height that too at the time of emergency and escape? When Mr K Prabhakaran shared these with me I felt shocked. I called on Mr MA at his home (as we were family friends) and questioned him about this final conclusion of arriving at 4M elevation overlooking the safety considerations. Then only he realized the implied folly and literally did "Thopikaranam" to me. He expressed that he got carried away by the refinery experts' version and said 'sorry'. Unfortunately that 4M dyke elevation exists at site! Year 2005.
36 Third time drowning! We were on a pilgrimage trip with M/S Divya Desh Darshan Tours& Travels,Mumbai, On that trip they took us to important locations in UP state viz. Triveni Sangamam ( Prayag), Varanashi ..... In Banaras, the arrangements were excellent and we were received by Tamil pandits to perform various rites for our ancestors. During one such occasion we were taken to a ghat in the river Ganga in Banaras. While getting down in steps itself, the river waves swept me and I started floating/flowing!. Luckily some stranger noticed that and he swam against the tide to rescue me and save. Then only I realised that water is my dearest friend - 3rd time incident. Year 2011.
37. ISA awards & recognitions In June 2012, during the marriage of my second son, one evening my friend Dr Nagendran congratulated me for winning two ISA awards simultaneously and I felt happy to learn that. But the next day he did not turn up physically for the marriage function. I was wondering and thought he must have fallen sick. But that was not the actual reason. Later I learnt from him that after release of the first message congratulating me , in a few minutes they withdrew the release of my ISA Fellowship and retained only the Excellence in Society Service award. As that was bad he felt sorrow and did not attend the main function in the marriage hall. Hearing that I thought I should not proceed to USA for accepting that single award; but Dr Nagendran insisted that I should accept that recognition as that was the first award to an Indian in ISA So I made the trip with family as my both sons reside in USA. My attending that function completely altered my recognition in ISA. During that evening function in Orlando, ISA past President Mr Bob Ives, the person who asked me to take over the D14 DVP position in 2005 met my family for conveying his pleasantries and then introduced me to Mr Gerald Willibanks, another past president & senior ISA Fellow. When the exchanges were going on, Mr Willibanks voluntarily came out that he shall completely guide me for drafting the revised Fellow application in the beginning of 2013, which he performed completely and helped Dr Nagendran, as my nominator to submit my application in 2013. End result: I was selected and honoured with ISA Fellow in Dec 2013. Since I have completed many years as an ISA member, my position is ISA Life Fellow, the only Automation professional from India and Asia Pacific. That developed my status to become as a member in ISA Fellows Admission committee Year 2012&13. contd...
No comments:
Post a Comment