Wednesday, 31 August 2022 | PNS |Dehradun
Poisonous chlorine gas leaked from a cylinder at a scrap dealer’s shop
After a toxic gas leak took place in a scrap dealer’s shop from a cylinder of about 50 litre capacity in Azadnagar area of Rudrapur on Tuesday morning, 34 people including the Kichha sub divisional magistrate Kaustubh Mishra and circle officer (CO) of Rudrapur Ashish Bhardwaj were admitted to the hospital after they fell sick due to inhalation of the gas.
The police informed that the poisonous gas was chlorine which was leaking due to a cut in the pipe attached to the cylinder. The leaked gas started causing congestion and eye irritation to people in the area after which personnel of the police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) besides officials from the district administration arrived at the location to dispose of the cylinder in the nearby forest. The nearby area was evacuated before taking out the cylinder for disposal so the exposure was limited to the locals, said the officials. They said that the officials like SDM, ADM and some SDRF and police personnel among others were taking the cylinder for disposal when some of them got slightly exposed to the gas and felt sick. The district magistrate of Udham Singh Nagar, Yugal Kishore Pant along with the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manjunath TC also arrived in the district hospital at Rudrapur to check on the admitted patients.
According to the SSP, the health of every person admitted to the hospital is stable. He also said that the police will investigate how a cylinder of chlorine gas was being kept in a residential area. The DM has also directed the police to file a case against the scrap dealer who was found to be in possession of the cylinder. He has also instructed the officials concerned to send the rats found dead in the shop due to the gas leak to Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly for investigation.
