Ammonia leak: Tamil Nadu govt accepts technical committee report on slew of measures including legal action

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has accepted the recommendations of a technical committee, formed to ascertain the cause of ammonia leak from a private unit here in December 2023, including legal action and a Rs 5.92 crore compensation to be paid by the company.

"On December 26, an ammonia leak had occurred from the under-sea pipeline of the Coromandel International Ltd. close to the shore," the technical committee concluded, an official release said.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has submitted the report to the TN government, the release from the state's Environment, Climate Change & Forest Department, said.

The committee has made various recommendations, including taking "immediate action to direct the unit to pay the environmental compensation of Rs 5.92 crore to TNPCB for environmental mitigation."

It has also recommended legal action against the unit for non-compliance with the conditions of the consent order issued under the Air Act, the release added.

"The Government has accepted the recommendations of the Committee and directed TNPCB to implement all recommendations of the Technical Committee immediately and report compliance," it added.