4 months ago
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A nationalist involvement litigation (PIL) petition has been filed successful the Madras High Court seeking a absorption to the Centre arsenic good arsenic Tamil Nadu authorities to seal Coromandel International Limited’s (CIL) ammonia terminal and the subsea pipeline operations astatine Ennore successful Chennai.
The High Court’s archetypal Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan is expected to perceive the PIL petition, filed by erstwhile Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Tiruvottiyur, K. Kuppan (71), connected Monday (January 12, 2026).
The petitioner has besides sought an interim direction, invoking the precautionary principle, to the backstage institution to suspend ammonia transfer, retention and associated hazardous operations astatine its Ennore installation too desisting from pre-cooling and question done subsea pipelines.
He has further sought a absorption to the Collectors of Chennai and Tiruvallur districts to forthwith disburse afloat compensation to the individuals who had suffered some abbreviated and agelong word losses successful presumption of health, livelihood and spot during the 2023 ammonia state leak from the undersea pipeline.
In his affidavit, the erstwhile MLA said, an undersea pipeline operated by CIL, for transporting liquid ammonia from the Ennore larboard to its fertilizer installation successful Ennore, suffered damages connected December 26, 2023. About 67 tonnes of ammonia got leaked wrong 15 minutes and nary of the sensors were capable to observe it connected time.
Over 52 residents were hospitalised owed to ammonia poisoning. They suffered acute oculus irritation, respiratory distress and systemic complications due to the fact that the chemic merchandise exceeded harmless attraction limits by 5 to 10 times, the petitioner said provided measurement of the aerial and oversea h2o samples.
He besides claimed that accusation obtained by him, nether the Right to Information (RTI) Act, had revealed astir 1,860 food belonging to 18 antithetic species, each weighing 187 kg, had died crossed 9 sportfishing villages located successful the country owed to the ammonia leak from the pipeline.
The authorities had ordered a impermanent shutdown of the terminal and levied an biology compensation of ₹5.92 crore connected CIL aft a method inspection. Stating that levy of specified a token magnitude was not sufficient, the petitioner insisted connected sealing the ammonia terminal and the pipeline.
Drawing a parallel with the 1984 Bhopal state tragedy, the erstwhile MLA said, Ennore exhibits the aforesaid signifier of aging infrastructure, failed information systems, lack of aboriginal warning, determination of a hazardous installation amidst dense settlements and a civilization of firm and regulatory negligence which, if unchecked, could pb to a catastrophe of acold greater magnitude.
He besides alleged that CIL was operating the ammonia terminal without a valid environmental/coastal regulatory portion (CRZ) clearance and without a consent-to-operate nether the Water Act, for its station modification pipeline, contempt being a reddish class hazardous industry. “The archetypal 1995 CRZ clearance, granted to EID Parry (India) Ltd., did not screen the contiguous undersea pipeline configuration that has agelong outlived its statutory validity. The effort successful 2025 to transportation that clearance to CIL, aft the leak, is ex-facie ultra vires the 2006 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification which mandates a caller CRZ clearance with afloat EIA, nationalist proceeding and modern hazard assessment,” helium added.
