COIMBATORE: The district police arrested five people including a relative of owner of the chips making unit at Chenniveerampalayam village near Karamadai on Tuesday for their negligence during renovation which resulted in ammonia leak on Monday night. The TNPCB has issued an order to close the unit, said sources
The potato chips making unit had stopped operations four years. Ashik Mohammed from Avinashi in Tiruppur bought it in an auction conducted by a bank and handed over the renovation work to his relative Jaffar Ali (50) from Mettupalayam, a few weeks ago.
Jaffar Ali, manager of the unit Balakrishnan (59) of No 4 Veerapandi, technician Gurusamy (62) from Kovaipudur and two labourers Samraj (42) of Karamadai and Sampathkumar (38) of Chikkarampalayam near Karamadai started the renovation work.
The cold storage had around 100 kg of ammonia in a tank in which the leakage happened. The entire village was evacuated as the gas spread for 800 metres radius and caused eye irritation and breathing trouble to people.
The villagers were housed in a marriage hall. When RDO (Coimbatore North) PK Govindan met them on Tuesday, they demanded the closure of the unit.