Three die in Uttar Pradesh gas leak, factory owner booked (Second Lead)

HARDOI - Three people, including a woman, died and seven others were hospitalised following a gas leak at a chemical factory here, officials said Saturday. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and police have registered a criminal case against the factory owner B.N. Lal, who is absconding.

A compensation of Rs.2.20 lakh has been announced for the families of each of the deceased.

The gas leakage from Amit Hetro Chem factory in Sandila town is believed to have taken place early Saturday. The factory has been sealed and its adjoining areas have been evacuated by the police as a precautionary measure.

“All the three, who died following the gas leak, were sleeping in a flour mill situated a few metres away from the factory,” Hardoi District Magistrate Awadhesh Kumar Singh Rathore told IANS.

“While a magisterial enquiry has been ordered into the case, a four-member committee has also been constituted to probe whether procedures were being followed by the owners of the factory,” he added.

Rathore has asked the committee to submit its report within seven days.

“Whether the factory had a valid licence or norms related to safety aspects were being followed and several such aspects will be probed by the four-member committee that would be headed by additional district magistrate (ADM),” Rathore said here, some 110 km from Lucknow.

Officials are yet to identify the gas.

“We have been told that chemicals used in medicines were manufactured in the factory. Experts and technicians are carrying out necessary tests to identify the gas,” Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Santosh Kumar told IANS.

“We have detained a chemist of the factory in connection with the incident. He is being interrogated,” he added.

Hardoi’s Superintendent of Police Luv Kumar told IANS: “On the complaint made by the deceased family members, we have filed a case under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including section 304 (causing death by negligence), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) against the factory owner.”

“Teams have been constituted for his arrest,” he added.

Meanwhile, locals alleged that many residents had died due to gas leakages from the factory in the past as well, but no action was taken.

“I have also been informed about it. But as of now, I cannot say anything with confirmation. I have sought records and documents in this regard,” said Rathore.

Locals said panic gripped the area after people complained of irritation in eyes and skin.

“Some of us started experiencing it at around midnight, and thereafter we started washing our eyes and the body parts. It was only in the early morning we came to know that the irritation was because of the gas leak,” said Pammu Kushwaha, a resident of Hardoi.