Chennai: Following the ammonia gas leak accident at an industrial facility in the Kunnigaipeyar area of Tiruvallur, which claimed 18 lives, District Collector S. Kavitha has ordered that all workers in the district be made PF members.
A private company operating in the Kunnigaipeyar area of Tiruvallur district had been processing seafood products, including shrimp, and exporting them to foreign countries.
On June 21, ammonia gas leaked there, causing breathing difficulties and eye irritation among the workers. Of those affected, 83 people were admitted to various hospitals.
As a result, 18 people died after falling ill. The others recovered fully and returned home. In this case, the Tiruvallur district police arrested 3 people.
Based on news reports published in newspapers regarding this accident, the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal in Delhi took suo motu cognizance and registered a case.
Following that, ‘In this case, the Member Secretaries of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, the Chennai regional officer of the Union Environment Department, and the Tiruvallur District Collector are being added as respondents.
The tribunal ordered that they must file a report during the next hearing regarding the ammonia gas leak accident.
Meanwhile, this case, which was transferred to the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal in Chennai, is scheduled for hearing on Aug. 31.
Meanwhile, when the Tiruvallur district administration was asked whether the workers of the company where the accident occurred were members of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), and whether, as per PF rules, compensation of 30 months’ salary or up to Rs. 7 lakh had been provided to the workers who lost their lives in the accident, they said:
Workers have been sent to the concerned company through a contractor. They can stay and work for a few months. They are not permanent employees of that company. They have also not been enrolled as members of the Provident Fund. PF officials also came to the factory and inspected it.
In this situation, all contractors who bring and supply workers to all companies and factories in Tiruvallur district must be 100 percent registered.
The District Collector S. Kavitha has ordered that all workers be made PF members. Officials said this.
