Ennore residents stage road roko seeking permanent closure of fertiliser industry

CHENNAI: Residents of Ennore on Tuesday resorted to road roko and shutdown of shops in protest against the technical committee's recommendation to inspect the ammonia leak from an industrial pipeline of the fertiliser company Coromandel International Limited

The road roko and dawn to dusk shutdown of shops were called by 33 Ennore Fisher villages, residents associations and traders associations even as their continuous protest seeking permanent closure of the fertiliser company entered 42nd day on Tuesday.

The technical committee report stated that the unit should replace the existing offshore pipeline with a new pipeline and secure it properly to avoid any accidental damage. Water curtain system and fire water nozzles in ammonia feed pumps should be installed to reduce the impact of ammonia leakage while emergency plans shall be established to deal with leakages. The unit shall carry out a safety audit of the ammonia storage tank, hazardous chemical storage tanks, and pipelines before restarting the Ammonium Phosphate Potash Sulphate (APPS) plant.

Environmental Activist Nityanand Jayaraman condemned the state government for standing on the side of the private company instead of the people affected by the disaster. "Ennore gas leak Committee highlights the availability of an onsite emergency preparedness plan and is silent about whether an offsite emergency plan was ever prepared. If not, that exposes a callous disregard for public safety by the administration, " he wrote on social media.