Vishakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Police on Monday issued warrants to Sravan Shipping Services Private Limited which operates Ammonium Nitrate warehouses at Chukkavani Palem here over violation of ‘Ammonium Nitrate Rules-2012’.
A team led by Police Commissioner Manish Kumar Sinha has prepared a comprehensive report and the company has been asked to file a response within a week.
Police in its report has maintained that:
- Warehouses containing Ammonium Nitrate should be at least 90 meters away from protected areas but the company has violated this guideline.
- A distance of at least 9 meters should be maintained between any two warehouses in the compound housing the warehouse blocks. While in the said premises, there are a total of ten warehouses, the distance between them is less than nine meters.
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- Although C9 and C10 are shown as two warehouses, at the field level it is found to be a single warehouse. One common wall was built between the said blocks and they are shown as two different/separate warehouses.
- The distance between the C5 and C6 warehouses was found to be only 2.3 meters. In case of emergency, even the firefighters will be unable to reach the spot as the road between the godowns is narrow.
- As per guidelines, only one warehouse is allowed in one compound but in Sravan Shipping Company case about ten warehouses are permitted to be housed in the same compound.
- Police said that the storage of Ammonium Nitrate in the warehouses is against the rules under PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Authority) and PESO authorities were also informed.
- Only one ton of Ammonium Nitrate per square meter is to be allowed but the company has violated this provision by storing a higher amount of chemical. Irrespective of the area, permission has been granted to store 5,000 metric tons of Ammonium Nitrate per warehouse.
- Although GVMP, Traffic Police, Medical Health Officer, RDO and Fire Department permits have been obtained by the company, the monthly reports scheduled to be forwarded to the police were also not sent.
- Order of Pollution Control Board of not storing beyond 20,000 tons of cargo in warehouses was also ignored.
However, Sravan Shipping Services Private Limited Head G. Sambasivarao has denied the charges and said that they have followed all the safety standards.
"We operate warehouses following the Central Government Security Standards. The authorities permitted us only after examining all the conditions in which the warehouses are being set up and maintained. We will surely reply to the notices received from the police, following the guidelines," Sambasivarao added.
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