Navi Mumbai: The forest department has asked the Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to submit documents showing their ownership of a plot at Rasayani in Raigad district.
The companies have also been asked to send their workers and labourers for inquiry.
On Saturday, 31 monkeys and 14 rock pigeons were found to have died in a suspected gas leak. Pramod Railkar, member, Raigad District Environment Committee, had on Sunday said that the land originally belonged to the HOCL. “Around 20 acres were later handed over to the ISRO and the remaining to the BPCL,” he said.
Nandkishor Kupte, assistant conservator of forests, on Monday said, “We will record the statements of workers to figure out what happened that day, and who all were involved in burying the carcasses. We have also asked them to submit their land papers.”
Jagannath Salunkhe, regional officer, Maharashtra Polluting Control Board, Raigad, is also conducting a parallel inquiry to know the source of the gas leak. “We have sent a notice to the HOCL for negligence and for not informing us about the incident. The plant situated amid the forest is very old and only 10% of it is functional. The plant, as per our knowledge, is known as the HOCL. There was nitric acid found in the pipeline, and there are chances that the monkeys would have gone near the pipeline and died due to the reaction.”
Depending on the reply of the HOCL to the notice, Mr. Salunkhe said, next action will be taken. “We will file an FIR with the Rasayani police after the forensic report is out. The report will help us figure out if the gas leak killed the animals or the nitric acid,” Mr. Salunkhe said.
Mr. Kupte said the zilla parishad veterinary doctor who had conducted post-mortem said prima facie, it looks like gas leak. “But we need a forensic confirmation. We have requested the forensic laboratory to prepare the report at the earliest. The ISRO plant produces dinitrogen tetroxide [N2O4] from nitric acid which is toxic in nature,” Mr. Kupte said.
