The CPIML Uttar Pradesh unit expressed deep sorrow and condolences on the death of two officers in the accident due to ammonia gas leakage that took place late in the night of 22 December at the IFFCO fertilizer factory in Phulpur, Prayagraj. In a statement issued at Lucknow, the CPIML said that lethal gas leakages are taking place repeatedly at the factory but the government is sitting back and waiting for accident to turn into total destruction.
The Party unit said that two officers were martyred due to suffocation and about 18 workers were seriously affected as they tried to stop the gas leakage (caused by negligence of the management) from becoming a much bigger tragedy. If the gas leakage had not been controlled, the tragedy would have been on the scale of the Bhopal gas tragedy. These lives xould have been saved if safety standards had been strictly followed and availability of equipment required in such situations had been ensured.
CPIML termed the announcement of Rs 4 lakhs each as compensation to the families of those killed in the gas leak tragedy as ludicrous. The Party demands proper compensation for the families, a government job for one member of each family, financial aid for those injured in the gas leakage, accountability to be fixed, punishment for the guilty, and adherence to high safety standards to avoid repetition of such accidents.
Meanwhile, the Contract Workers Union (affiliated to AICCTU) at the Phulpur IFFCO factory organized a condolence meeting on 23 December and paid tribute to the martyred officers.
