Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd (SIIL), whose copper plant at Tuticorin was shut down after a gas leak controversy, has claimed that it had unearthed the two chemical processes, pursued by the neighbouring Ramesh Flowers Ltd, that led to the mass coughing and fainting at the dry flower unit on July 5 last.
We have enough evidence and witnesses to support our contention that the accident took place only at the flower unit and that two specific chemical processes employed by Ramesh Flowers were behind it, said Hemant Jalan, senior vice-president (commercial), Sterlite.
He said the company had passed on its own findings to the state government and would soon come out with newspaper advertisements advancing its viewpoint. Jalan asserted Ramesh Flowers had used toxic chemicals during its bleaching and fumigation operations at two of its units in Tuticorin, including the one adjoining Sterlite copper plant, on that fateful Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ramesh Flowers denied Sterlites charges saying they were all lies and pure nonsense and that SIIL was trying to put the blame on others and escape. Sterlite Copper had to shut down after allegations that leakage of sulphur-dioxide from its sulphuric acid plant was responsible for the mishap.
Jalan maintained that the accident took place at the dry flower unit and there were reports of similar accidents earlier in the various units of Ramesh Flowers in Tuticorin. To achieve golden colour dyeing on a variety of natural raw materials, Ramesh Flowers used a heated mixture of varnish, thinner and metal powder, capable of emitting strong harmful fumes, Jalan alleged.
This process was carried out on palm leaves at its plant near Sterlite Copper, and on pine cones at another unit in the town on the same day, Jalan said. Similarly, he added, the flower company used aluminium phosphide to produce phosphine, a highly noxious gas, to fumigate its export-bound end-products, and a leak during this process also caused the accident.
Jalan alleged that Ramesh unauthorisedly carried out the fumigation process, as only a licensed agency could do it under law. What has been happening at Ramesh Flowers, perhaps, is getting fumigation done in a manner not conforming to law.
They may have done it to meet the extra pressure on time to honour export commitments, Jalan remarked. Sushil Kumar Sharma, director, Ramesh Flowers, said from Tuticorin over phone that Ramesh Flowers did not carry out the fumigation process as alleged by Sterlite.
As for the golden colouring process, Ramesh Flowers had been using the process for the past 20 years and it was not harmful, Sharma said. We can prove to anybody that the charges by Sterlite are baseless and false. Its Sterlite which has caused the accident, he remarked.
He also denied the charge that similar accidents had taken place earlier at various units of Ramesh Flowers and that on July 5 itself, a few female workers fainted at a different unit of the company, due to a similar mishap.
Some girls at one of our units fainted on hearing the news that 90 girls have fallen ill due to a gas leak at Sterlite, Sharma asserted.
He alleged that the controversial gas leak not only affected workers at Ramesh Flowers, but some workers of the Sterlite plant as well. However, their cases have been suppressed. Sterlite has been wrongly claiming that nobody was hurt by the gas leak, Sharma said.
We have enough evidence to support our contention that the accident took place only at the flower unit and that two specific chemical processes employed by Ramesh Flowers were behind it
- Hemant Jalan senior vice-president Sterlite Industries Ltd
