india

Updated: Nov 14, 2019 07:51 IST

Around 90 women workers, many of whom were minors, fell ill after inhaling chlorine gas which had reportedly leaked from one of the units of a leading prawn processing plant in the coastal Balasore district of Odisha on Wednesday night.

Senior district officials, who rushed to the plant run by Falcon Marine Exports at Panpana area under Khantapada police station soon after the incident, said no casualties have been reported so far and all of the workers are out of danger.

“Many of them complained of a problem in breathing and irritation in eyes for the first few hours after inhaling the gas. They suffered from minor asphyxia,” said Balasore’s district collector K Sudarshan Chakravorty.

“They were initially admitted to a local hospital, but later transferred to the Balasore district headquarters hospital. All of them are stable now and quite a few have been discharged,” Chakravorty said.

The state’s labour minister Sushant Singh said the labour commissioner will investigate the incident and also find out whether children were working in the factory.

“We will ensure stern action against those responsible for the accident,” the minister said.

The collector said they are yet to ascertain how the leak happened.

Seven officials of Falcon Marine Exports, owned by leading industrialist Tara Ranjan Patnaik, have been detained by police for interrogation. The plant has been sealed and a case of negligence was lodged against the plant authorities.

Patnaik is a cousin of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Congress’ Odisha unit chief Niranjan Patnaik.

Officials said the women workers felt a foul smell at about 9pm on Wednesday while they were descaling the prawns.

“The employees, all contractual, were working in the second shift when they started feeling a burning sensation in their eyes and their throats were choking. Many of them fell unconscious,” said inspector general of police (eastern range) Diptesh Patnaik.

Three fire tenders were sent to the factory to pour water on the affected area and bring the situation under control.

The state’s director general of police BK Sharma said a forensic team from Bhubaneswar has been sent to the factory for assessing the cause of the leak. The district collector said an inquiry will be conducted on how the plant was employing minors.

The factory at Balasore was set up three years ago and employs more than 3000 people. Falcon Marine Exports is the largest Indian exporter of frozen and fresh shrimps with an annual turnover of Rs 1500 crore.

In 2010, Falcon’s owner Patnaik had unsuccessfully contested as a Congress-backed independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections from Odisha.