Nagpur: Godhani Nagar Panchayat (GNP) will not take over the water treatment plant (WTP) where a chlorine leak sent 59 people to hospital earlier this week unless all safety and technical deficiencies are rectified, said Rajesh Mahajan, chairperson of the Nagar Panchayat’s water works committee.Mahajan’s statement comes days after the inquiry committee constituted by Nagpur collector Kumar Ashirwad submitted its report to him on Friday, even as the fire department has already flagged several lapses at the plant, including inadequate safety arrangements and the absence of an alarm system.“We will check everything — how the plant is being operated, where the deficiencies are and what needs to be corrected. Only after all corrective measures are implemented, will we take over the WTP,” Mahajan told TOI. Earlier, GNP president Roshna Kolte had clarified that it won’t take responsibility for running the plant with safety deficiencies.Kolte said the nagar panchayat employees would also require proper training before they could operate the facility. “Our employees will be given at least two to three months of complete training. Only after that will we take the handover,” he said.The stand puts the future operation of the 6.5MLD Godhani WTP under a cloud, particularly as the facility was yet to be fully commissioned when the chlorine leak occurred.The inquiry report submitted to Ashirwad on Friday is expected to bring greater clarity on the circumstances leading to the leakage of chlorine from the 900kg tank. The fire department had earlier pointed to multiple shortcomings at the plant, including a narrow approach road that could hamper emergency response, lack of adequate safety gadgets, and the absence of a chlorine alarm system.The leak on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday exposed the consequences of these deficiencies, with chlorine spreading towards Phagoji Patil Layout in Sakar Nagar and forcing around 80 residents to evacuate. At least 59 people, including four minors, were hospitalised.Mahajan indicated that responsibility could fall on the agency currently executing or operating the plant if the inquiry establishes lapses. “There was no CCTV and no fire alarm. The technical issues will have to be examined,” he said.The controversy has also exposed an administrative grey area over who was responsible for the plant at the time of the incident. Godhani Nagar Panchayat president Roshna Kolte had earlier told TOI that the WTP had not been formally handed over to the civic body, and its personnel were not operating it.With the inquiry report now before the collector, the focus has shifted from determining the cause of the chlorine leak to establishing who was responsible for the safety lapses and whether the plant should have been allowed to operate without critical safeguards.
