Expert committee visits Sigachi blast site, collects samples, interacts with stakeholders

A four-member expert committee visited the Sigachi Chemicals blast site in Sangareddy to investigate the cause of the explosion. The team spent three hours inspecting the premises, collected samples, and sought records from the company. A report is expected in a month

Sangareddy: The four-member expert committee constituted by the Telangana government to find out the cause of the explosion at Sigachi Chloro Chemicals Private Limited visited the blast site on Thursday afternoon, a day after it was constituted.

The committee, headed by Dr B Venkateshwar Rao, Emeritus Scientist at CSIR-IICT, includes Dr T Pratap Kumar (Chief Scientist, CSIR-IICT), Dr Suryanarayana (Retired Scientist, CSIR-CLRI, Chennai), and Dr Santosh Ghuge (CSIR-NCL, Pune). Officials of the Sangareddy district administration and representatives of Sigachi accompanied them to the blast site, while officials from the inspectorate of factories, fire department, pollution control board, and others were also present.

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They spent nearly three hours examining the site and interacting with the officials. The team also posed several questions to the management and officials to gather information. However, it was not immediately known whether they interacted with any surviving employees who were present at the time of the blast on the industry premises. They also collected samples. The government has given a month’s time for the committee to submit its report.

The committee members enquired how many times the machinery had been changed since the industry was set up more than three decades ago. They further asked the management to submit the no-objection certificates obtained from different departments. The team also sought details of the kinds of permissions the industry had and the types of products being manufactured. They were also studying whether there was any negligence by the concerned officials. They checked whether inspections were being carried out regularly as per the guidelines.