Ennore residents want fertiliser company shut
Following the hospitalisation of more than 50 people, who experienced suffocation and other ailments due to the ammonia gas leak on Wednesday, over 150 people from Periyakuppam in Ennore continued their protest outside Coromandel International Limited for the second day on Thursday.
With four more being hospitalised for breathing trouble on Thursday, the number of patients has crossed 60. The protestors said that residents of 40 villages in Ennore Kathivakkam are forced to live in an environment that is becoming unfit for habitation due to industrialisation.
The Tamil Nadu government has temporarily suspended the operation of the Coromandel International plant at Ennore near Chennai after an ammonia leak at its facility late at night on Tuesday.
All manufacturing activities of the fertilizer manufacturing plant have been suspended after the incident, except the Sulphuric acid unit which couldn’t be immediately shut down, according to state environment minister SV Meyyanathan.
The gas leak happened in the subsea pipeline outside the plant premises, which is used to carry ammonia from the ship. It happened during the pre-cooling process in the pipeline, done to pump ammonia in liquid form.