Vasco
Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar on Friday served a 15-day ultimatum to the Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited (ZACL) plant to carry out mock drills and provide relevant documentation and valid certifications of the ammonia storage tank at Sada-Vasco.
Speaking to reporters after offering prayers during the 27th Vardhapan Diwas of the Khapreshwar Temple in Baina, Amonkar warned the ZACL that transportation of ammonia to and from the port would be stopped if the ultimatum was not met.
“The ammonia tank at Sada is a ticking time bomb in Mormugao constituency but strangely I have never heard of any mock drills happening there. Goa Shipyard Limited carried out a mock drill on Thursday evening that went on till midnight creating utter chaos with a huge traffic jam and I fail to understand what will happen in the event of a real threat faced by these installations,” said Amonkar.
“The ammonia storage tank issue was raised in the assembly and any incident in this installation can lead to the deaths of hundreds in the densely populated area of Sada, which is in close vicinity of this tank. I demand that a mock drill be held immediately at the ammonia storage tank so that we can assess the real threat and steps that can be taken to prevent a threat at this site.”
“ZACL has taken people for granted and the tanks have no valid certification nor is there any safety audit. There is no fire brigade at site for emergency not any fire attendant at the ammonia tank site,” alleged Amonkar.
The Mormugao MLA further alleged that the ZACL had not changed nor provided safety audits to any authority.
“I had requested the ZACL to sit with us and furnish all valid license, certification and safety tests carried out so that the people know about this. We are not even sure of the stability of the tanks and whether the walls of the tanks are corroded.”
“We don’t have their safety audit reports and I will be forced to take strict action if the company continues to take the lives of the people for granted.”
“There are a lot of irregularities observed at the tanks and we will totally stop transportation of cargo of the ZACL to and from the port, if the company fails to provide us their documents, certificates and submit their disaster management plans to the authorities with the next 15 days,” said Amonkar.
