MARGAO
A day after the ammonia gas tragedy at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate, Cuncolkars demanded answers from the government authorities concerned and called for their urgent intervention to address safety concerns.
Questions have been raised whether the Inspector of Factories & Boilers had conducted a safety audit of Quality Foods. Besides, questions are being raised whether any safety drill or first aid training was conducted by the authorities for the workers to escape in times of emergencies.
That’s not all. People raised the oft-repeated question whether the rooms constructed in the adjoining tool factory conformed to the construction rules or whether any precautions were taken to build the rooms considering the presence of ammonia tank just a stone’s throw away.
Dr Jorson Fernandes, who along with residents of Cuncolim, had launched an agitation to protest against pollution in the estate over a decade ago, demanded to know the date when the safety audit was of Quality Foods was conducted.
“Safety audit and drills are important. Apart from the safety audit, were the workers at any time trained in first aid and safety?” he questioned.
Expressing shock and surprise how come the makeshift rooms could be built along the boundary wall of the adjoining factory, very close to the Quality Foods unit, Dr Jorson said it is important that the authorities probe into this aspect.
“Who had given the tool factory permission to build the rooms. Let the inquiry probe into this angle as well,” he said.
Dr Jorson has called for inter-departmental coordination to put things in order in the estate. “The people of Cuncolim have to bear the brunt of the acute pollution in the estate. We only want to tell the authorities not to take Cuncolkars for granted,” he said, warning that people will have to descend on the roads again.
Cuncolim Municipal Council councillor Shashank Desai demanded a thorough probe into the incident. “The Cuncolim Industrial Estate has virtually turned into an atom bomb. The people do not know when it will explode,” he said.
The councillors lamented that though people have time and again drawn the attention of the authorities to workers staying inside the factories, no action has been forthcoming.
“There should be an immediate inspection of all the units in the Cuncolim IDC to ascertain the number of illegal rooms in the estate,” he demanded.
Shashank pointed out that the people had drawn the attention of the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to the illegalities and deficiencies in the Cuncolim IDC, but lamented there’s no change in the ground reality to date.
