Gas container leak: NGT seeks responses of the Centre, Delhi government

Image courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Days after Chemical gas leak in Delhi’s Tughlakabad area, which left over 450 female students injured; Police have issued notices to various parties to join the probe. Notices have also been issued to firms transporting the containers. As per a senior police official, the effect of gas leak was so adverse that even days after the incident, around 10-15 students are still admitted to the Hamdard Institute. The police are now sending notices to the companies involved in the transportation of the container, the customs department and the Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR), the custodian of the depot. "We have asked them to submit a list of the agreements and documents pertaining to the transportation of the container and its content," he said. The officer said their probe will focus on ascertaining where the carelessness occurred and the agency responsible for it. Police had said it is suspected that the leakage might have happened due to the containers not being properly sealed after being checked. The National Green Tribunal had also sought the responses of the Centre and the Delhi government. The green panel had issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, the Delhi government, the Railway Board and the DPCC and asked them to file their replies within a week. It also issued a show cause notice to the CONCOR on why environment compensation should not be imposed on its Tughlakabad depot and why should it not be shifted to some other place. The NDRF had said a truck carrying 80 cans of chloromethyl pyridine had left the Tughlakabad depot for Sonepat at 3.30 am on Saturday. The Delhi government, which ordered a magisterial probe into the incident, had issued a show cause notice to the depot authorities. Police had registered an FIR in the matter under various sections of IPC and the Environment (Protection) Act against unidentified persons. The southeast district administration also issued a show cause notice to the Customs department and the CONCOR. Around 450 girl students were hospitalised on May 6 after toxic fumes spread due to chemical leakage at a container depot near two schools in southeast Delhi's Tughlaqabad area.