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15 fall ill after chlorine gas leak at sewage treatment plant in Meerut
A chlorine gas leak at a Meerut sewage treatment plant left 15 people ill and triggered a rapid emergency response. The administration has ordered a magisterial probe as questions grow over a faulty valve and possible negligence.
Fifteen people were taken ill after a chlorine gas leak from a sewage treatment plant triggered panic in Meerut, officials said on Wednesday. A magisterial probe has been ordered to find out how the leak happened and whether there was any negligence at any level.
The leak took place on Tuesday evening and led to an emergency response by the police, fire services and municipal officials. While four of the affected people have been discharged from hospital, treatment for the others is continuing, officials said.
The incident occurred near Akanksha Ambience Colony in Pallavpuram Phase-2 on Tuesday, prompting residents to rush outside with children and elderly family members.
Police and a fire tender reached the spot after being alerted. The police used loudspeakers to ask people to cover their faces with masks or handkerchiefs and remain indoors.
District Magistrate VK Singh said the incident took place between 7 pm and 7.15 pm on Tuesday at the municipal corporation's sewage treatment plant in Pallavpuram. He said a preliminary inquiry by a technical team suggested that a cut in a valve might have caused the leak.
Soon after the leak was reported, municipal corporation officials, experts and other officers, including the additional district magistrate (finance) and the superintendent of police (city), reached the spot.
Singh said the team of experts managed to stop the leak. He also said a magisterial probe has been ordered and a committee headed by the additional district magistrate (city) has been formed for it. The probe will examine the cause of the leak and whether there was negligence at any level, he said.
Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Gangwar said the leak was caused by a faulty valve on a chlorine cylinder installed at the sewage treatment plant.
He said teams from the municipal waterworks department and Dauraula Organic reached the site, inspected the plant and stopped the leak. "The situation was brought under control in some time," Gangwar said, adding that officials are monitoring the area.
Officials said the pungent smell of the gas led some families to lock their homes and move to safer places, returning only at night, while others spent the night at relatives' houses.
