All those, who were admitted to the Government General Hospital here on Wednesday after inhaling chlorine gas that leaked out of Chemfab Alkalis Limited in Kalapet, were discharged by Thursday morning. According to Medical Superintendent S. Govindaraj, none of them developed any serious complications.
Closure order
The closure order served by the Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC) revealed that the safety systems of the industry were “inadequate” and that immediate measures to stop the chlorine gas leakage before it reached outside were not taken.
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The order said that apart from hundreds of people of Pudu Nagar who were affected by the leakage, foliage in the village was also “severely affected” by the leak.
The closure direction pointed out that the industry had “failed to identify the major accident hazards and to take adequate steps to prevent such major accidents and to limit the consequences to persons and the environment.”
Therefore, a direction under provisions of section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 was issued and the factory was ordered to close all manufacturing activities with immediate effect.
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Collector G. Rajesh Chandra said that the special team constituted by the PPCC was in the process of analysing the samples collected from the factory and would submit a detailed report to the administration based on the analysis.