The ammonia gas leak at Ennore in Chennai on December 26 was from the under-sea pipeline of fertiliser firm Coromandel International Limited, the seven-member technical committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday concluded. It asked the firm to pay an environmental compensation of Rs 5.92 crore to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). A statement issued by the Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department noted that the committee also observed that a significant relocation of heavy granite boulders around the pipeline due to Cyclone Michaung could have caused damage to the pipeline, leading to the ammonia gas leakage. The committee issued 18 recommendations, including replacing the existing offshore pipeline of the fertiliser unit with a new pipeline with state-of-the-art monitoring, automatic control, and accident prevention systems, providing ample protection to the pipeline to avoid any accidental damage. The committee led by R Kannan, member secretary, TNPCB, and comprising members of the TNPCB, experts from IIT Madras and CSIR-NEERI, noted that the fertiliser unit should provide adequate ammonia sensors around the plant near the pipeline where it crosses the express highway and in the villages around the plant. The unit has also been asked to carry out onsite and offsite emergency preparedness studies by credible agencies for both ammonium phosphate potash sulphate (APPS) and ammonia storage along with an offshore pipeline facility. “The unit shall ensure that any ammonia vapour let out of the storage through the pressure relief valve line or through the boil-off compressor line is sent only through the flare and not directly vented to the atmosphere,” the committee said. It was noted that the unit should provide necessary arrangements, including high-volume sirens, to alert the people of the nearby villages during accidents and abnormal plant operations. The unit has been informed to keep the villages located around the plant informed of the pre-cooling and ammonia transfer operations and the dos and don’ts in case ammonia odour is sensed by the people and also organise mock drills based on offsite plan organised by the District Administration and Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health (DISH). Another recommendation by the committee was that the unit should make the safety audit report of the offshore pipeline and the fertiliser plant available to the public by publishing the same on their website. The ammonia leakage left thousands of residents of areas like Thalankuppan, Periyakuppam, Chinnakuppam, Ernavur Kuppam, Netaji Nagar, who were already grappling with the damages caused by the oil leak after the floods earlier in December, rush out of their homes gasping for breath. Elderly and women with comorbidities fainted on the streets, some had blood seeping out of their noses and the majority of the residents experienced breathlessness, throat and eye irritation and were rushed to the nearby hospitals. Since the gas leak, the residents have been protesting continuously to shut down the unit permanently.
