10 containers with ammonium nitrate leave from Chennai

Ten of a total of 37 containers containing ammonium nitrate, stored in a Container Freight Station (CFS) near here for five years, was on Sunday transported to Telangana after a Hyderabad-based firm won an e-auction for buying the explosive chemical.

Sources said 10 containers were transported on Sunday, while the rest 27 will leave the CFS by the end of this week.

The chemical was seized by the customs department in 2015 from the Karur-based Amman Chemicals for not possessing required license to import ammonium nitrate and was stored at the CFS in Manali near here since then.

Fresh concerns were raised over the chemical being stored in high quantities very close to the city after a huge explosion ripped through Lebanese capital Beirut last week due to the explosive chemical.

Read: Over 100 feared dead in Beirut explosions, thousands injured

Though the customs department claimed the chemical was stored safely in the CFS and there was no residential area within the vicinity of the facility, an inspection by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) found that around 12,000 people were living within a 2-kilometre radius.

The CFS, which has been operational since 2001, is spread across 18 acres and 740 tons of ammonium nitrate was stored inside 37 containers. Since the huge amount of ammonium nitrate was imported by Amman Chemicals from South Korea without required permission, the department had seized the chemical along with the containers in 2015 and had stored them at the aforesaid CFS.

The consignment was seized in September 2015 after the firm’s licence was cancelled. Amman Chemicals also moved the Madras High Court against cancellation of the licence, which upheld the government’s decision in 2016.