Factories officials to visit Hindustan Insecticides Limited today

KOCHI: Factories and Boilers department officials led by director P. Pramod, will visit the gas leakage accident site at Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL) on Friday. The second consignment of carbon disulfide imported from Israel will be unloaded in the presence of top officials. The director will verify the safety measures before unloading the gas. Meanwhile, based on the temporary closure notice issued by the State Pollution Control Board, operation of the unit has been suspended. PCB chairman K. Sajeevan in a letter asked the company authorities not to resume operations until the extent to which air and water has been polluted is examined and a report is submitted to the district collector.

A delegation of trade union leaders, including CITU President K.N. Gopinath, visited the PCB chairman with a demand to revoke the closure notice. PCB district engineer Thrideep Kumar inspected the disaster site and reviewed the pollution level and submitted a report to the Board chairman. "We inspected the effluent treatment system and discharge level from the unit and found it to be in a good condition and within the permissible level. The Board is not equipped to inspect the company. That has to be done by Factories and Boilers officials," he said. The PCB authorities declined permission to directly discharge the water used for cooling the gas tanker and asked the industrial unit to treat it.

HIL authorities on Thursday gave a formal assurance on the safety parameters and fitness of the equipment. Based on the district engineer's report, the PCB chairman is likely to give his approval to resuming the unit's operation on Friday. S.P. Mohanty, CMD of HIL, visited the accident site on Thursday and held discussions with company officials. He also visited the company officials admitted in the hospital with severe burn injuries sustained in the accident.