The death and distructions caused by the ammonium nitrate blast in Labanon’s capital Beirut have reverberated in Chennai. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has issued an order to remove 740 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at Manali near Chennai.
The pollution board has directed the Commissioner of Customs to take immediate action to clear the stored ammonium nitrate from the container fright station near the Manali town.
The board also asked the Director Industrial Safety and Health to inspect and take the necessary action as per the provisions of Manufacture Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical rules, 1989.
This comes after officials from TNPCB, Customs and Fire and Rescue services departments visited a container freight station at Manali, where the explosive chemical is stored.
After the Customs Department stated that 740 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a hazardous chemical, stored in a Chennai depot was ‘safe’ and not located within two kilometres of any residential locality, an inspection by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s (TNPCB) has contradicted this claim.
The TNPCB released a report which found that two residential areas, with a population of around 12,000, were located under 2 kilometres from where the chemical is being stored. The huge consignment was seized in 2015 from a Karurbased company which had permission for fertiliser grade chemical but the 740 tonnes imported in 37 containers from Korea was found to be explosive grade. Since then it has been lying at Sattva Manali Container Freight Station (CFS). The Customs department is now auctioning the cargo, sources said.
The CFS was also directed to earmark the ammonium nitrate storage area and engage security personnel to safeguard the spot till the clearance of ammonium nitrate stored from there.