A day after a tragedy struck the densely-populated area of Giaspura in Ludhiana leaving 11 dead and several others critically ill, a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the role of industrial units which have allegedly been flowing chemical waste into the sewage.

Notably, no less than 11 people, including two children, died after allegedly inhaling toxic gas on Sunday morning. Giaspura is a thickly populated area with several industrial and residential buildings, majorly having a migrant population.

The investigators detected the high levels of Hydrogen Sulphide in the air, which is believed to have emanated from a sewer. It is believed that some chemical, suspected to be industrial waste, was discharged into the sewer where it got mixed with methane and other gases to produce toxic hydrogen sulphide.

“The SIT will be led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigation) Harmeet Singh Hundal. He will be assisted by ADCP Suhail Qassim, ADCP Tushar Gupta, ACP and area SHO. The team would investigate if any industrial unit dumped waste in the sewerage line,” said Ludhiana Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu.

“There have been reports that some industrial units have been flowing chemical waste into the sewer line from long time. If this is true, the role of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) have also come under scanner; and if any official is found guilty, they will have to face legal action,” said Sidhu.

Sidhu said that the police would seek PPCB’s cooperation on this, and if its officials do not cooperate, action would be taken against them too.

Already, a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Meanwhile, the police have also registered an FIR under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified persons.

The district authorities on Monday said that the locality underwent a night-long decontamination process, involving putting caustic soda in drains and sewerage lines to counter the hydrogen sulphide build-up.

“The area has been decontaminated. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the municipal corporation took readings of the ambient air quality in the area throughout the night…Hydrogen sulphide is no longer detected in the air,” said Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik.

The teams also checked the manholes in the area at frequent intervals. “During the night, the level of hydrogen sulphide in the manholes was high but it has gone down after the chemical decontamination process,” she added.

A pollution control board team is also mapping the industries located in the area to check the inlet and outlet of their water, said the Deputy Commissioner, adding that sample of some industries have also been taken and same will also be matched with the samples of manhole of Giaspura.

“The cordoned-off area has been reduced from a radius of 250 metres to 25 metres as the air was found to be alright,” she said. Notably, the authorities had on Sunday cordoned off the area after the gas leak.

PPCB teams are also looking into the possible reasons behind the build-up of poisonous gas in the sewer that might have led to the incident.

The officials maintained that the traces of the gas are no longer present in the area. Hydrogen sulphide, also called sewer gas, is poisonous and smells like rotten eggs, which can lead to unconsciousness and death.

The latest measurement of several manholes at Giaspura by the NDRF with the gas measurement device cleared that level of Hydrogen Sulphide has turned to zero. At the time of tragedy, which caused 11 deaths, the level was said to be between 400 to 500 particulate per minute.

The incident came to light on Sunday morning when some people, who had come to a grocery store in the Giaspura locality, fainted. Four died on the spot, while others were rushed to a hospital. All the 11 deceased belonged to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Among the dead are three members of the family that owned the store and five from another. The administration has announced Rs two lakh compensation each for the family of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for those who were taken ill in the incident.

Barnala's Sukhpreet Singh wins gold medal in Junior Federation Cup

Chandigarh: Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer has congratulated Athlete Sukhpreet Singh who won the gold medal in the boys' triple jump event in the Junior Federation Cup. Sukhpreet Singh who belongs to Pandher village of Barnala district, won the gold medal in the Junior Federation Cup at Thiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu) with a triple jump of 15.76 mtr. Apart from becoming the Junior National Champion, Sukhpreet Singh also qualified for the Junior Asian Athletics Championship to be held in South Korea next month. Meet Hayer congratulated Sukhpreet Singh on this achievement and wished him good luck for future competitions. He attributed this proud achievement to the hard work of the Athlete and his coaches and parents.