BAREILLY: Two over-enthusiastic workers at a chilli powder manufacturing unit in Fatehgunj, UP, burnt close to 10 quintals of red chilli waste, sending over 100 gasping and wheezing residents to hospital for urgent treatment.

A thick blanket of smoke engulfed an entire colony in Fatehgunj East tehsil after the employees at a cold storage on the Bareilly-Lucknow highway got rid of the waste by setting it on fire instead of sending it to a treatment plant or burying it in a sand pit. Panicked residents, some of whom shouted that ammonia had leaked from a nearby pipeline, were seen sneezing and coughing, many of them unable to breathe properly.

According to reports coming in, the two men, who work at the cold storage whose owners also manufacture red chilli powder, brought out in the open the massive consignment of waste and set it ablaze. Within minutes the smoke emitted from it spread to the neighbouring residential area, triggering panic and a virtual stampede as residents ran out of their houses. Many fell down and sustained injuries while fleeing the smoke.

On receiving information, local authorities, including the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), rushed to the spot and alerted medical authorities. A team of doctors was immediately dispatched to the area under the direction of the chief medical officer (CMO). While some of those hit by the smoke were taken to the primary health center, others were rushed to the district hospital.

Talking to TOI, Dr Vijay Yadav, the CMO, said, “We have administered anti-allergic injections and tablets to all those who took ill and they are recovering. It is gross negligence on the part of the cold storage authorities as they should have ideally buried the chilli waste after digging a pit. The waste, which includes seeds, chilli flakes and sticks, is bio-degradable. Burning it in the open is not something that should be done.”

SDM, Faridpur, Kunwar Pankaj said, “The situation is an outcome of utter lack of awareness among employees of the cold storage about disposal of industrial waste. I have summoned them and asked them to give a written undertaking that they will adhere to proper disposal, pollution control and safety norms in future.”