Date: 18 May 2020
To,
The Chief Minister,
Government of Himachal Pradesh.
SUBJECT: ENSURE PUBLIC SAFETY AUDITS PRIOR TO RE-OPENING OF INDUSTRIES AND PROJECTS TO PREVENT INDUSTRIAL DISASTERS/ACCIDENTS
Shri Jairam Thakur ji,
As the government of Himachal decides to re-open the factories and industrial units in the state after a period of almost 5 weeks, we are writing to you to draw your urgent attention to the need to ensure that each and every industrial unit, specifically those dealing with hazardous chemicals and processes, be put through a full public safety audit so that no untoward accidents occur putting to risk the lives of workers and residents around these units.
As you know that the styrene gas leak that took place in Vizag earlier this month claimed 11 lives and made hundreds of others critically ill. On the very same day, two other industrial accidents occurred, one in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, where a gas leak at a paper mill resulted in the hospitalization of 7 workers and the other was a boiler blast in Tamil Nadu. Recently, an ammonia gas leak has been reported in another factory in Chennai. It has been put on record that these accidents are not ‘coincidences’ but rather a result of the lack of monitoring of the conditions of storage during the lockdown period. For instance, in the Vizag case, the styrene gas was not kept at the required temperature leading to a pressure build-up and breaking of the valve of the styrene storage chamber.
As per the government’s data Himachal has over 50,000 industrial units and of these about 990 units are classified as ‘red’ including high risk or hazardous processes, heavy equipment or adverse environmental impacts. The concentrated clusters of these are Kala Amb, Una and Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industrial area. These are potential hazard zones that need immediate attention to prevent any industrial disasters from occurring.
And it is not just other states that are experiencing these disasters. On the early morning of 16th April, a blast in the chemical tank of an adhesives manufacturing unit of Pidilite Industries at Dharampur village in the Baddi Industrial area of Himachal Pradesh led to the leakage of noxious gas, leading to the death of a migrant worker in shanties in the vicinity; seven others fell seriously ill. While charges were pressed against the factory authorities, it remains unclear what the response of the government has been post this incidence, as far as providing relief and compensation to the affected people and also ensuring accountability and compliance of safety and environment regulations for industries that are reopening post partial/full lockdown, are concerned.
We mention here that these kinds of accidents/disasters are not just occurring in chemical and pharma units. Even Hydropower projects are hazard prone and categorized in the ‘red’ category in Himachal Pradesh. On the 16th of May, there was a major accident at the Uhl- stage III Hydropower Project in Mandi after the penstock pipe burst during a trial run of the project. We have raised the issue of safety negligence on hydropower projects several times before with the state government as well as the NDMA.
As you may be aware the government of Andhra Pradesh following the Vizag industrial disaster has issued guidelines to carry out public safety audits of all industries. On 9th May 2020, the National Disaster Management Authority issued detailed guidelines for restarting manufacturing industries after lockdown. It has been clearly specified that the focus of industrial units and the government should not be on ‘achieving targets’ but ensuring compliance to safety and environmental norms first. https://ndma.gov.in/images/
We also would like to draw your attention to the poorly staffed and ill-equipped State Pollution Control Board that makes compliance monitoring for the large number of industrial units difficult and leads to severe negligence in environmental and safety compliance by companies in the state of Himachal Pradesh, even under everyday conditions.
In the light of the above we appeal that the state government urgently work on the following actions:
- Full compliance and public safety audit of all high-risk industrial units before reopening as per the guidelines issued by NDMA as well as in compliance with all safety regulatory laws.
- A proactive and targeted site inspection of high-risk industrial units in all industrial clusters of the State.
- Revamping and strengthening of regulatory capacity of safety cells and State Pollution Control Board to ensure proper enforcement of laws and regulations related to industrial accidents.
- A special monitoring task force at the district level to investigate and monitor high risk industries and provide immediate response in case of accidents and gas leaks. Members of the community and people’s representatives (of Panchayats and Municipal wards) must be made members of this task force for community participation.
- Full compensation and relief to families of those affected by industrial accidents
- Criminal Negligence legal proceedings against firms where such accidents have taken place or those who are found to be violating the safety and environmental conditions prior to operations.
- All information on the measures taken needs to be made available in the public domain
Thank you
Manshi Asher Aditi Vajpeyi Sumit Mahar
Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective
For more information contact: info@himdhara.org
Copy to:
Minister, Department of Industries and Commerce.
Chairperson, State Pollution Control Board
Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority
