Departments concerned pass the buck

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 23

The recent fire incident at the plastic factory, which resulted in the loss of several lives, has brought to the fore some questions with respect to responsibility for ensuring safety of residents. When The Tribune contacted different departments and asked them about how they give licence and NOCs for buying and storing of chemicals, they kept passing the buck. Chemicals are de-controlled items and openly available in the market, so there is no check on their buying and storage. The question arises why rules were not followed and why no proper checking of the factory, which could have helped in averting the tragedy, was done by the departments concerned.

Ludhiana is a city which caters to the industry of almost every nature. Some industries use hazardous chemicals as raw material, while some produce chemical for the use by industry. There is another category which does not uses chemicals as raw material or produces them, but their finished products are highly flammable. So, whether the chemicals are used or not, the risk factor is always involved in the industrial units.

The need of the hour is to create awareness among the industrialists and apprise them of the risks involved. The departments concerned should conduct timely checks to overview if the safety norms are being followed.

Hazardous chemicals used by various industries

Electroplating industry in the city makes use of hazardous zinc, sulphuric acid and nickel, dyeing industry uses dyes, chemicals and in addition to this, yarn in these units is highly flammable. Steel processing industry uses sulphuric and hydraulic acids and phosphate. In the hosiery units, washing chemicals are used. In printing and packaging industry, the end product is flammable and boilers are used in almost every unit. A few units also prepare chemicals for the industrial use.

According to the data, maximum fire incidents take place in yarn units. Yarn being highly flammable is the main reason behind it. There is no department to take care of the risks involved and checking the safety measures in place at the units involved in the sale and purchase of flammable goods.

No law, check on sale and purchase of highly flammable products

There is no specific law for checking products which are highly flammable and no department checks the sale and purchase of these products.

An owner of a dyeing unit said the PPCB checked whether the water was disposed of accurately after treatment. “I have a plant to treat the water before disposing it. I have chemicals and dyes at my unit and these are used on a regular basis, but I have not taken any licence or NOC for the same nor I am aware that one has to do it,” said he.

It is an open secret that several units are still disposing of the untreated water into the sewerage and open drains and the PPCB have been catching the offenders on and off but the practise of doing same still continues in many parts of the city.

Further, it came to light that the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation, under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, takes care of the scrutiny and approval of site, layouts and construction plans for explosive manufacturing factories, explosive storage premises, fireworks manufacturing factories, firework store houses and shops, gas cylinder filing plants, storage sheds for filled gas cylinders, storage and installation for compressed gases in pressure vessels, calcium carbide storage premises etc. The main objective of the organisation is to ensure safety and security of people and property from fire and explosion, but nothing was mentioned about checking the storage of hazardous chemicals in the units.

‘PPCB gives licence as per category’ 

Punjab Pollution Control Board Chief Engineer Pardeep Gupta said: “The PPCB gives consent to operate the industries and check their disposal later. It keeps a check if they are creating air, water or noise pollution. We are not concerned with the storage of chemicals. We give licence to factories according to their nature. The green category is of zero-risk industry, the orange category involves medium-risk and the red category is high-risk industries. The PPCB does not give licence for the storage of chemicals. The department looks after the disposal of chemicals and checks if they cause any pollution.”

Major loophole

The Factories Act is applicable only when the unit has employed more than 10 workers and the premises with less than 10 workers come under the Shop Act. Most of the chemical-making units exploit this provision. On papers, they show less than 10 workers and the unit automatically comes under the Shop Act. This saves them from following the Factories Act. The unit in question where the fire broke out on Monday is also registered under the Factories Act.