[ad_1]
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday ordered a compensation of Rs 15 lakh each to the households of 12 individuals killed in the chemical factory blast that led to the collapse of a textile godown in Ahmedabad on November 4.
The principal bench of the tribunal gave the directive, taking suo motu cognisance of The Indian Express report, and constituted a six-member committee to probe the incident and submit a report.
The state authorities’s compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased was handed over on Friday.
The four-member bench of the tribunal additionally directed {that a} bodily inspection should be performed in the Pirana-Piplaj space the place the incident passed off inside seven days and an motion taken report should be submitted inside a month.
The tribunal, which took up the case over digital proceedings on November 11, directed the chemical factory proprietor to deposit an quantity of Rs 5 crore, minus the statutory compensation or ex gratia already paid to the affected, if any, with the District Magistrate, Ahmedabad, inside 10 days, that’s by November 21.
In case the unit fails to pay, “the amount may be recovered from the assets of the unit, if any, within one month, failing which this amount be deposited out of the state funds with liberty to recover the same from the unit or the erring officers. The amount of Rs 4 lakh already announced will be adjusted in the amount to be paid under the above direction,” the tribunal directed.
Families of the deceased individuals will get Rs 15 lakh each, whereas these injured and hospitalised will get Rs 5 lakh each.
The six-member committee shaped by the NGT will probably be headed by former choose of Gujarat High Court and former chief justice of Delhi HC, Justice (retd) BC Patel. It will conduct a fact-finding inquiry, by visiting the positioning inside seven days and put together a report.
Among the injured, 10 are nonetheless present process remedy in hospital. The tribunal famous that prima facie it “appears to be failure of the statutory regulatory regime” beneath varied legislations such because the Water Act, the Air Act, the Environment (Protection) Act, Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 (The 1989 Rules) and the Chemical Accidents (Emergency, Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules, 1996 (The 1996 Rules) and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The inquiry committee shall embody consultant members from the ministry of surroundings and forests, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), chemical engineering division of IIT-Gandhinagar, and a consultant from the National Institute of Disaster Management, from its New Delhi campus.
The tribunal additionally acknowledged that Gujarat Chief Secretary, Anil Mukim “may identify and take appropriate action against persons responsible for failure of law in permitting the company to operate without statutory clearances within two months and give a report to this Tribunal”.
The tribunal additionally referred to a June incident in Bharuch the place a blast at a chemical plant in Dahej killed 10 employees, injured 75 others and displaced over 4,800 individuals. The tribunal “regretfully” famous that “several such incidents have occurred in the recent past and it has been found that the mandate of law, particularly preparation of onsite and offsite plans, is not being followed”.
On November 7, the Gujarat authorities submitted an motion taken report earlier than the NGT, saying it has determined to conduct off-site emergency mock drills “at least once every year” for clusters with hazardous industries, in collaboration with the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA). The choice got here following NGT’s order on Bharuch incident.
AV Shah, member secretary of GPCB, Ahmedabad collector Sandip Sagale and PM Shah, director of Industrial Safety, Ahmedabad, had been current on the digital listening to performed on November 11. Officials knowledgeable the tribunal that the proprietor of the factory was in judicial custody and that the unlawful godown, a rented premise, was being operated with out requisite consent for storing hazardous chemical substances.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink