Petroleum And Explosives Safety Organisation

Petroleum And Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) is a non-statutory body that control and administers the usage of explosives, petrol stations in India. The agency issues licenses for Operation of Petrol Stations, Licenses to operate Petroleum Product Transportation vehicles, Licenses for Refineries, Petrochemical Complexes, etc. The Department is headed by Chief Controller of Explosives and is headquartered at Nagpur.  PESO has its headquarters in Nagpur and it is responsible for the administration of a host of laws pertaining to the regulation of explosives. These include the Explosives Act, 1884; the Inflammable Substances Act, 1952 and the Explosives Rules, 2008.

This organization was making news recently in the wake of horrific blast in Petlawad, in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, which killed around hundred people. The blast was caused due to an stockpile of gelatine sticks stored illegally in a building. This blast exposed the menace of illegally storing explosives in congested residential areas in several parts of India.  The sale and transport of such explosive materials are regulated by the PESO. While PESO said that no such license was issued to the owner of that building, it threw light on the inability of PESO to monitor all explosive substances everywhere in the country. In 2011, PESO had announced plans to computerise its operations but so far it has not been done.