On Wednesday, the National Green Tribunal directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment in coordination with other concerned authorities to consider issuing appropriate guidelines for conducting safety audits & taking other remedial measures throughout India in respect of industrial accidents.
The NGT's bench headed by its chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that "We also direct CPCB and Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in coordination with other concerned authorities to consider issuing appropriate guidelines for conducting safety audits & taking other remedial measures throughout India in the light of present report as well as other recent reports in respect of industrial accidents so as to prevent such incidents & to save human lives & health".
The NGT bench also sought an 'action taken report' by the Chief Secretary of Gujarat after asking to hold a joint meeting with the District Magistrate of Bharuch, the Director Industrial, Safety, the Member Secretary, State PCB & the GIDC within one month.
The NGT said that the Chief Secretary may ensure that all the remedial measures have been adopted in terms of the report.
The Green Tribunal said that "The action taken report may include the status of risk-policies taken by the industries to cover health & safety risks of persons engaged or likely to be affected & compliance of 1989 & 1996 Rules. The action taken report may also mention the remedial measures taken in respect of 11 other units mentioned in the report".
The NGT said that "It is thus clear that there are violations in following requisite safety protocols & monitoring & absence of adequate health facilities in the vicinity. Learned Counsel for the Project Proponent fairly stated that the unit in question will follow all the recommendations of the Committee including payment of compensation for the damage to the environment, remedying the inadequacies in the infrastructure & all safety precautions for the future. Entire safety aspects will be reviewed in terms of SOP, HAZOP, Qualitative & Quantitative Risk Assessment & other gaps identified by the Committee".
The NGT noted that there are several recent incidents in the course of industrial activities on account of a gas leak, blast, & fire.
The court was hearing issues related to a blast & major fire at the UPL Ltd, Jhagadia in Gujarat's Bharuch, which claimed two lives & injured 26 in February. The Tribunal had also noticed that in the recent past, 12 other incidents had taken place & it has been found that in most of the cases the safety norms have been breached in operating the industrial activities. The NGT constituted a four-member joint committee comprising of the CPCB, State PCB, DISH, & the District Magistrate, Bharuch to give a report to this tribunal.
Accordingly, a joint committee visited the unit in March & interacted with some of the concerned officials present on duty on the day of the accident in the unit, representatives of the unit, collected various available reports & records from the unit.
The Committee has filed its report on March 17. The report shows that the Committee visited the site, interacted with the personnel of the unit, calculated compensation & assessed the safety preparations of the unit. Based on site visits & deliberations, the Committee has given its findings on factual aspects of the cause of the accident & remedial measures by the unit & the regulatory authorities.
The Committee has also made recommendations for safeguards that need to be adopted to prevent such incidents in the future.
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