SURAT, Nov 11: The much-publicised, eagerly awaited meeting called by Collector R M Shah today to address the panic arising out of a gas leak in parts of the city ended on a tame note, with the participants only deciding to form a committee to trace the source of the gas. The identification of the gas as methyl mercaptan, too, came to be questioned even as representatives of a number of companies in the Hazira belt and in the city flatly denied that any gas was leaking from their respective units.The 12-member committee appointed today will submit its report to the collector in a fortnight. ``There is practically nothing new except that a special squad has been now appointed'', Shah told reporters after the meeting.
Interestingly, while the chairman of the fact finding committee is GPCB regional director J B Patel and the joint chairman is Surat Municipal Corporation's chief fire officer G M Kothwala, the other 10 members are representatives of 10 companies that the GPCB officials ``checked'' in the past few days in search of the elusive source of the gas.
One official each from Gujarat Gas Company Limited (GGCL), Cynamide, Birla Cellulosic, Kribhco, Essar Steel, Baroda Rayon, Navin Flourine, NTPC, ONGC and Reliance Industries Limited have been included in the committee.
The collectorate this evening distributed contact numbers of all the members of the committee and appealed to the public to contact them in case of an emergency.
The collector has directed members of the committee to take the sternest possible action against those responsible for the mysterious gas leak, which was felt only after sunset. The officials are meeting again at the office of the GPCB to discuss the progress of the investigation.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Printer-friendly page