Ludhiana gas leak: NGT panel visits Giaspur area

Ludhiana: An eight-member fact-finding panel of the National Green Tribunal Monday visited the Giaspura locality where 11 people were killed last month after inhaling toxic gas that emanated from a sewer.

The panel was led by Punjab State Pollution Control Board (PPCB) Chairman Adarsh Pal Vig.

It has the Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner, the Municipal Corporation Commissioner, a nominee of the director of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, the regional director (north) Central Pollution Control Board, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, and a nominee of National Disaster Response Team (NDRF) as its other members.

Eleven people were killed after inhaling toxic gas in the thickly-populated Giaspura area here on April 30.

The NGT had earlier directed the Ludhiana District Magistrate to give Rs 20 lakh each to the families of the 11 victims.

After a preliminary meeting at Sherpur Chowk here Monday morning, the NGT panel proceeded to meet a few witnesses, and relatives and friends of the victims, and examined the spots from where poisonous gas leaked.