Tughlaqabad spill: Pollution body issues notice to container PSU

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee has issued notice under the Air Act to the Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) over the recent chemical spill at the Tughlaqabad container depot.

Over 475 schoolchildren were hospitalised on Saturday after inhaling fumes from the pesticide spill. They complained of breathlessness, eye irritation, nausea and severe headache.

According to a senior Delhi government official, the CONCOR will have to explain how and why the spill happened.

“A notice has been sent under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and have been given time to respond to the notice. DPCC scientists, along with scientists from the Central Pollution Control Board, will go for a joint visit of the depot on Thursday,” the official told Hindustan Times.

DPCC officials had already collected samples from the spill site on Saturday night and are being tested.

The liquid chemical, which has been identified as chloromethylpyridine, is believed to have leaked from a couple of broken barrels inside an iron container, which was kept in the depot overnight before being transported to Sonepat in Haryana early on Saturday.

Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Tuesday visited the spill site to check for contamination and declared it safe as the spill was contained using salt and sand.

Delhi Police have also issued notices to the companies involved in the transportation of the container, the customs department and CONCOR regarding the agreements and documents related to the transportation of the container and what it contained.