NGT panel to meet next week over Giaspura gas leak tragedy that left 11 dead in Ludhiana

Ruchika M. Khanna

Chandigarh, May 5

The fact finding joint committee constituted by National Green Tribunal (NGT) to look into the Giaspura Gas Leak tragedy at Ludhiana will be meeting on coming Monday.

This eight member committee is likely to complete its task of finding the reasons for the gas leak, that led to 11 deaths on April 30, within a month. The committee is headed by Chairman of Punjab State Pollution Control Board. “All relevant information about the gas leak incident and our findings so far will be shared with the Committee,” Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surbhi Malik told The Tribune.

On Thursday, a report was submitted to the Additional Chief Secretary Revenue and Disaster Management K A P Sinha, which said that prima facie Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) gases were found to be in high concentration at the tragedy site, much beyond the permissible limits.

H2S is also referred to as “sewer gas”, as it collects in the sewers and prolonged inhalation of this gas can cause death. When the incident occurred on Sunday, huge amounts of caustic soda were used by the rescue and disaster relief teams to neutralise this H2S gas.

Sinha, when contacted today, said that the NGT constituted technical committee will determine the source of the gas leak.

Meanwhile, Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surbhi Malik said that am interim report has been submitted by PPCB to Magistrate regarding the industrial units operating in Giaspura and further enquiry is under process. “We are still investigating is any of these units, operating in densely populated areas were using H2S or CO,” she added.