Industries in state not alert to disaster prevention: Experts

The Times of India , Friday, March 01, 2013
Correspondent :
BHUBANESWAR: Industrial houses in Odisha are yet to put in place foolproof safety systems to prevent disasters, experts at a national seminar titled "Industrial Disaster: A National Concern, Prevention, Control and Management" said here on Wednesday.

The experts added that the state government should have a state emergency response centre to deal with hazardous chemical accidents effectively. "There is a regulation that every state should have a response centre, but the Odisha government is yet to set up one. Secondly, the industries are not training contractual labourers, who constitute the biggest part of the labour force, in methods to avert disasters," said Anil Kumar Gupta, associate professor of policy planning, environment and climate change of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).

He said many major accident hazard (MAH) industries in Odisha were not conducting disaster mitigating mock drills, which should be done in every six months, as per rule. "Like every state, Odisha too has a state crisis group, which should conduct meeting on regular intervals to take stock of the disaster preparedness of the industry houses," Gupta added.

He further said district officials should be kept informed of movement of chemical-laden vehicles. "There should be a mechanism so that either the collector or the ADM has knowledge of chemical-laden vehicles passing through their area," Gupta said, adding, "Inflammable and toxic material might cause havoc during transportation. So there should be preparedness," he added.

Out of 3,600 running factories in the state, 23 comes under the MAH category. "Off-site emergency plan is required in 13 districts out of 30. As of now, only six districts have the facility. Soon we are going to launch the plan in some more districts," said the joint director of factories and boilers, P C Das.

He said no accident owing to chemical leakage has ever taken place in the state. In 1985-86, four persons were killed and 18 fell sick owing to chemical reaction in a prawn processing factory at Kalupada, he added.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Industries-in-state-not-alert-to-disaster-prevention-Experts/articleshow/18719399.cms
 


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