In the gas leak issue in Ludhiana, in which 11 people died due to hydogen sulphide, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Ludhiana Police summoned senior officials of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) for questioning on Wednesday.
A senior official of the police told the TDG that they have summoned the MC Joint Commissioner and the chief environmental engineer of PPCB to be present for questioning on Wednesday. Along with the above, SIT has also summoned the area executive engineer of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
“The summons have been issued under Section 160 of the CrPC, and the statements of the summoned officers will be recorded to take the probe forward in the FIR registered under Section 304 of the IPC into the incident,” police said.
In the course of the probe, the police would also question several other people, including survivors, eyewitnesses, local residents, and first responders, in the next two days, and their statements would be recorded.
On Sunday, eleven people, including two kids, died after inhaling the toxic gas hydrogen sulphide in the Giaspura area of Ludhiana. Even after three days of the incident, the authorities, including the police, district administration, MC, and PPCB, are unable to find the source of the gas leak.
Though the officials said that it was suspected that toxic gas came out of a broken manhole nearby and that a concentration of hydrogen sulphide was found near the manhole, it is still not clear if this one gas was the only reason behind the eleven deaths. A major question mark is on existing local industries and whether they violated norms right under the nose of PPCB by dumping their waste illegally into the sewage, which led to the production of toxic gas.
Ludhiana police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said that the deputy commissioner has ordered the removal of the cordoned-off area after the decontamination process has been completed.
