Punjab gas leak tragedy: SIT formed to find out units dumping poisonous wastes into sewers, manholes

Chandigarh: A day after a toxic gas killed 11 people in Ludhiana, Punjab Pollution Control Board teams on Monday collected samples from the manholes, sewer lines and some of the outlets of industrial units, and the police constituted a special investigation team to detect the role of erring industrial units.

According to the information, the 5-member SIT, it is stated, will find out, if any, industrial unit had dumped untreated poisonous chemical waste into the sewers or manholes, which might have caused the tragedy.

DCP to head the SIT

Ludhiana police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu told the media the SIT would be headed by DCP, investigation, Harmeet Singh Hundal and would have additional DCPs Suhail Qasim, Tushar Gupta, besides two other area police officers as its members.

About industrial units allegedly dumped poisonous and hazardous chemical wastes into the manholes and sewer lines, police said the SIT would check the units using such chemicals and whether there are waste disposal systems in place.

Samples to be matched

Meanwhile, Ludhiana deputy commissioner Surabhi Malik said samples of industrial units' waste outlets would be matched with the collected samples of the gas emitted from manhole of Giaspura sub-urban residential pocket — located near Ludhiana industrial area — from where the poisonous gas was suspected to have emitted that killed 11 residents living around there.

An NDRF official said the latest survey in the manholes showed the level of hydrogen sulphide, the suspected killer gas, which was found to be at an alarming level on Sunday, came down to zero on Monday.