Over 15,000 litres of acid seized

It was sold illegally by a chemical firm near Madurai

The storage unit containing acid at Raj Chemicals near Madurai on Saturday. Photo: R. Ashok

Revenue officials in the district seized more than 15,000 litres of acid, which was being sold illegally by a private chemical firm at Ayyanarpuram near here on Saturday.

Acting on a tip off from a village administrative officer (VAO), a team of officials, including Tahsildar of Madurai South K. Suryakumar headed by Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) S. Arumugam raided Raj Chemicals and found that the owner R. Selvaraj did not posses a valid licence to sell it.

The officials said that two tanks containing nearly 7,000 litres and 8,000 litres of acid had been seized along with four plastic cans containing 40 litres of acid each from the company.

“The owner’s application for a licence, submitted on May 29, for sale of acid is still being processed. However, he has already started selling the acid,” said Mr. Arumugam.

“Under the Tamil Nadu Poisons (Regulation of Possession and Sale) Act, it is mandatory that traders and sellers who deal with acid should posses a proper licence. The norms were strengthened early this year after a spate of acid attacks on women in the country,” he added.

The company was said to be getting the acid from Tuticorin and selling it in small amounts to retailers and hardware stores here.

A case has been registered against the company and the owner at the Avaniapuram police station.

Revenue officials have been carrying out raids across the district to regulate the sale of acid after two college girls were attacked at Tirumangalam near here on September 12. Officials have so far seized more than 500 litres of acid after raids at Alanganallur and Tirumangalam and on Kamarajar Salai.

“There have been many requests from local traders and dealers for a licence to legally sell the substance after the norms were tightened. Post the acid attack alone, we have received 28 applications seeking licences,” said Mr. Arumugam.

A company must get clearance from the Police, Fire and Rescue Services and the Revenue departments to procure a licence. Many small traders were unaware of the procedure and norms in place, an official said.