Mishaps that go unnoticed

Only last week, two men who were cleaning an empty drum at a Channi scrap shop died after inhaling residual vapour from the chemical that had been stored in it. They didn8217;t know what happened when they started feeling the effects of the vapour: they ran about listlessly till they fell down.

The Channi deaths would have passed off without much noise had not the police scratched belowthe surface. They found that factories scrapping material are supposed to do so only after cleaning and treating it so that it does not endanger lives.

Gujarat Pollution Control Board GPCB is supposed to monitor such units and their supplies and ensure that tankers etc are cleaned of hazardous chemicals before disposal.

While GPCB regional officer N L Kansagara was not available, another official unwilling to identify himself, said quot;all informationquot; could be had from Gandhinagar public relations office. He said he was not aware of the Chhani incident.

At Gandhinagar, GPCB public relations officer Naresh Thakkar admitted the Board8217;s responsibility, but said he had no information on how the rules were to be implemented.

Jagdish Patel of the Vyavasayik Swasthya Suraksha Mandal, a non-governmental organisation NGO creating health awareness among labourers of chemical units, pointed out that the Hazardous Waste Management amp; Handling Rules 1989 are to be implemented by GPCB.

Patel said emptycontainers or bags in which hazardous chemicals, including insecticides and pesticides, were kept, had to be cleaned and treated before being scrapped. But most of the hundreds of chemical units do not have facilities for doing so.

Patel alleged that none of the chemical units in Gujarat disposed of wastes, empty drums and bags after following the prescribed procedure. This results in several deaths that go unreported because of the labourers8217; ignorance.

Some bigger factories, however, take care. Gujarat State Fertiliser Corporation GSFC assistant general manager safety P K Sharma said his company never sold drums and tankers used for transporting hazardous chemicals as scrap but destroyed them to avoid mishaps.

Sharma said most of the industrial scrap that reached scrap dealers were from small and medium-scale units. Industry sources confirmed this and added that most small units did not have facilities for treating material they were scrapping.

But at some larger factories, too, the story is thesame. At the Gujarat Refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation, an official spokesman said, quot;We auction drums and such materials to scrap dealers. Cleaning is their responsibility.quot;

Additional Police Commissioner M K Tandon, when asked about the Channi deaths, said that a case had already been registered. quot;Appropriate action will be taken against persons found guilty,quot; he said.