CHENNAI: The June 21 ammonia gas leak at the St Peter & Paul Sea Foods Exports Private Limited in Tiruvallur, which killed 16 people, is the first major disaster the TVK government has had to handle since coming to power on May 10.
Ten days later, questions are emerging about the manner in which migrant workers were identified, how information was shared with their families and colleagues and how the state coordinated with their home governments.
For instance, it is only on June 24 — three days after the leak — that many of the workers hailing from Odisha, Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand and under treatment at the hospital said they were first able to speak to their families.
The families of some victims only found out about the disaster only when the workers called and not through official channels. At that point, revenue officials were still going hospital to hospital collecting names, ages and native districts of victims.
Police and hospital staff were separately trying to verify patient identities. Officials blamed mismatched Aadhaar details and the language barrier for the delay — a problem for which a state employing lakhs of migrant workers ought to have been prepared.
While the health department started issuing daily bulletins on injured and deceased, the names on the list of the deceased kept changing as identities were verified, distressing and confusing worker families. Worse, even the factory workers housed in a relief camp in Tiruvallur were not informed about the condition of their friends and loved ones in hospital.
Rajamika Juang, an Odisha worker, only learnt of the death of his cousin, Geeta Juang, when his family told him her body had reached the village. “I kept asking about my sister’s condition, but nobody gave me a clear answer,” he said.
Rupesh (30, name changed), a worker from Jharkhand whose wife is still hospitalised, said the family had no choice but to keep visiting the hospital. “Nobody updated us. We were only told she was fine, no other details,” he said.
Much of this confusion traces back to the firm which owned the plant but had no readily accessible database of who actually worked there.
The workers’ home states also moved at different speeds. Odisha got its workers home within days. Jharkhand’s workers have had the longest wait, leaving only on Tuesday, while those from Assam said their labour department didn’t reach out to them until well after the leak.
The remaining six workers, from West Bengal and Kerala, are at a community hall. Revenue officials said the TN government is making travel arrangements for them.
At the relief camp, not everyone wanted to leave for home immediately. Some workers said they preferred to stay back and look after hospitalised relatives. Independent labour activist Sudharson alleged that a worker who did not want to leave was convinced by authorities to leave, and eventually couldn’t disembark from the train after learning a relative had been hospitalised.
He claimed officials had prevented activists from interacting with the workers. Authorities at the site also prevented reporters from interacting with workers, saying the restriction was to help them “recover from the traumatic incident”. Yet, even a week after the tragedy, the state government is yet to arrange for counselling or psychological support for those who may need it, particularly the several minor workers engaged at the unit.
Gumani Juanga, one of the deceased from Odisha’s Keonjhar district, was only 15. Her brother, Vidyadhar Juanga, said she had dropped out after Class V and come to Chennai five months ago on the promise of `15,000 a month. “This was her first job and now, her last,” he said.
Police arrested labour contractor P Suresh, an Odisha native, for allegedly recruiting underage workers with forged Aadhaar cards. Police are still looking for another suspected agent Srikant Juang. Four people, including the unit’s owners and manager, have been arrested so far.
While the issue of child labour only came to light because of the tragedy, a senior labour department official told TNIE there were no immediate plans to identify minors employed similarly elsewhere in the state but ‘routine inspections’ will continue.
Tiruvallur collector S Kavitha said the private firm had cleared the salary arrears and the ex gratia announced by the state government has been sent to district collectors in the workers’ home states for disbursal to next of kin. As on Tuesday evening, the health department bulletin said 16 people had died, 83 were affected, 41 discharged and 26 were still under treatment.
(With inputs from S Kumaresan @ Chennai)
