Acid leak in the Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Ltd: CPI calls for insurance scheme to local residents

CUDDALORE: 

          Deriving a lesson from the acid-leak-induced fumes in the Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Ltd. on the SIPCOT Industrial Estate near here that harmed several local residents on Monday night, the authorities should take appropriate safety measures, according to M. Sekar, in-charge district secretary of the Communist Party of India.

          In a statement released here today, Mr. Sekar stated that it was ironical that though mock drills on disaster management measures were conducted on the industrial estate last year, with a view to improve the reaction time to exigencies, the official machinery took about three hours to bring a semblance of control in the unit. Mr. Sekar observed that due to mishandling of the bottles containing bromine, the acid leaked, spewing out dense fumes.

        Moreover, the official machinery did not seem to have the right technology to deal with such chemical hazards. The CPI leader appealed to the District Collector P. Seetharaman to launch the People's Liability Insurance Scheme, as was in vogue in certain States, so as to provide adequate relief to the affected people. He also called for stringent action against the unit whose alleged lapses in the handling of chemicals had caused a life threatening situation. General Secretary of the Consumer Federation-Tamil Nadu M. Nizamudeen also called for the implementation of the liability insurance scheme, besides taking appropriate safety measures. Quoting the local residents he said that the alarm meant for alerting the people during emergency was not sounded, and the officials took a long time to react.

            As in the case of the Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Ltd. that kept the idle storage of bromine, there were also stocks of chemical wastes on the campuses of other units in the industrial estate. These uncleared stocks would pose imminent threat to the safety and security of the people. Mr. Nizamudeen pointed out that there were occasions when the chemical wastes were transported and dumped near habitations in an unscientific manner. He called upon the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board officials to keep a tab on the unused and unnecessary stocks of chemicals in the industrial estate and make arrangement for their safe clearance.

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Re-assess flood damage

CUDDALORE: 

        District secretary of the Communist Party of India T. Manivasagam has called upon the government to constitute a committee of State-level officials to re-assess flood damage in Cuddalore district.

        In a statement released here, he alleged that the earlier assessment was done in a haphazard manner, without any social consideration or adopting any scientific method. The “dismal flood relief measures and inadequate compensation given selectively” had caused disquiet among the larger population, Mr. Manivasagam said.

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CPI (M) calls for speedy disbursement of flood relief

CUDDALORE: 

        The district unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the authorities to ensure speedy disbursement of compensation to people in flood-affected areas of the district.

        In a statement, district secretary of the party T. Arumugham said that though the government had announced the quantum of relief, it was yet to reach the affected. The party also demanded compensation to the tune of Rs. 2,500 each to daily wage workers, handloom weavers, construction workers and fishermen who lost their livelihood during the rains.

          It suggested implementation of permanent flood control measures such as formation of two new drainage channels to carry excesses from the Velliangal Odai and the Ponneri to the Kollidam, execution of the Aruvamukku scheme at Thiruchopuram to drain water from the Paravanar, and, deepening of the Veeranam tank and the Wellington lake. The party also called upon the authorities to take up the construction of high-level bridges at Thirumanikuzhi and Murugankudi.

          Collector P. Seetharaman has said that of 18 persons who died in rain-related incidents, a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each had been given so far to eight families. Breeders of 326 of the 335 cattle heads lost in the floods had been given a compensation of Rs. 12.20 lakh. A solatium of Rs. 2.86 crore at the rate of Rs. 5,000 each to 935 of the 1,162 fully damaged huts and Rs. 2,500 each to 11,952 of the 14,595 partly damaged houses had been given.

             The Collector said Village Administrative Officers and agricultural officers had been deployed for collecting details about crops that had suffered damage of 50 per cent and above.

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“Declare Cuddalore disaster-prone”

CUDDALORE: 

              District secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) T. Arumugham has called upon the State government to declare Cuddalore a disaster-prone district because of recurring floods. In a statement here, Mr. Arumugham said standing crops on about 70,000 acres were submerged and 40 interior villages and 20 coastal villages had been affected in the recent rain.

           The CPI (M) appealed to the government to provide a cash relief of Rs. 5,000 to each affected families and appropriate compensation to those who died in rain-related incidents. For more than a week fishermen, handloom weavers and daily wage earners could not earn their livelihood. Therefore, it was only appropriate for the government to extended monetary support to them. He also said that all 197 lakes should be de-silted and irrigation canals deepened and strengthened.

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Bid to block train services

CUDDALORE: 

                 Police arrested 45 cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), including 14 women, when they tried to block train services at the Thirupadiripuliyur railway station here on Thursday. They demanded speedy implementation of the subway project at the Lawrence Road level-crossing and laying of an alternative path to reach the Pan Pari market there.

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CPI to launch agitation on August 9

CUDDALORE:

           The Communist Party of India will launch a continuous agitation for the restoration of democracy in Tamil Nadu on August 9, according to D. Pandian, State secretary of the party.

          The modalities would be drawn in the State committee meeting to be held from July 31 to August 2 in which A.B. Bardhan, CPI general secretary, would participate, Mr. Pandian told reporters here on Friday. He further said that the agitation would draw the attention of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to its unfulfilled election promise of issuing house site pattas to the homeless and cultivable lands to the landless farmers.

             As for the Chidambaram Natarajar temple issue, Mr Pandian said Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's recent utterances were inconsistent with his earlier stand. The Chief Minister had been emphatic about the manner of death of Saivite saint Nandanar all along but was now raising doubts about the latter's existence. Mr Pandian said that the wall erected at the point where Nandanar entered the temple was a standing testimony to the ugly face of untouchability.

          Therefore, the farmers' wing of the CPI would take out a rally at Chidambaram on August 11 to urge the government to remove the wall. About the arrest of MDMK general secretary Vaiko, Mr. Pandian said it was ironical that when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to Tirupati he was given a red carpet welcome whereas Mr Vaiko, who sought the democratic rights of Sri Lankan Tamils, was sent to the jail. Mr. Pandian said that when the four oil companies — the ONGC, BPL, HPL and the IOC — had figured in the top 15 companies of the Fortune magazine, the stand of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that these companies were in the red would not wash.

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