"No One Had Serious Health Problems": Kerala Chief Minister On Kochi Plant Fire

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that no serious health problems were caused due to the Brahmapuram fire that broke out in Kochi on March 2.

Mr Vijayan, who had come under scrutiny for not addressing the Brahmapuram crisis told the state Legislative Assembly that according to available figures, 1,335 people sought medical help in government and private hospitals including 128 children below 10 years of age and 262 above 60 years of age.

"21 people required hospitalization. No one had serious health problems," CM said.

His response was read out in the Assembly under rule 300 of the procedure and conduct in the Assembly.

He further said that the state government had declared vigilance inquiry will be conducted into all the proceedings of the plant right from its inception.

"Apart from this a special investigation team will be formed to investigate the crime case registered related to Brahmapuram," Kerala CM also said.

As per the CM, the government will roll out an action plan for evolving an effective waste management mechanism across the State on a war footing.

"An expert committee, including technical experts, will be appointed to submit recommendations on all relevant matters including the causes that led to the fire at Brahmapuram, to make the waste management scheme operational and avoid such accidents in future," he stated.

He further said that police special investigation team will investigate the crime case registered related to Brahmapuram fire and a vigilance inquiry will be conducted into all the proceedings of the plant right from its inception.

"The terms of reference for the enquiry include- What were the causes that led to the fire? What steps should be taken to prevent future fires? How suitable is the current site as a solid waste treatment-waste disposal facility? To what extent have the observations and recommendations made by the State Pollution Control Board been followed? Who is responsible for failure to implement the recommendations? Were there flaws in the agreement entered into to implement windrow composting?" Mr Vijayan also told the House.

A government empowered committee under section 24(l) of the Disaster Management Act to ensure flawless waste management and timely implementation of comprehensive action program prepared for the same and removal of bottlenecks.

He further added that the activities in Kochi will be evaluated daily by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Local Self-Government Department.

"Apart from this, the Ministers of Local Self-Government and Industries will conduct a review every week. The fire was completely extinguished by March 13. Due to the possibility of recurrence of small fires, precautions are still being taken," he added.

He also said that the health department took precautions to deal with any emergency situation ever since the fire broke out and the smoke spread.

"Special wards in Ernakulam Medical College and two taluk hospitals, 100 oxygen beds in district hospital, smoke casualty in Kalamasery hospital and mobile medical units besides. Private hospitals also cooperated well in health care activities. A system for continuous monitoring of ambient air quality was introduced from march 4," Kerala CM said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)