Over 50 people were hospitalised after a chlorine gas leak at a water treatment plant in Godhani, near Collector's Colony, late Monday morning.
All the patients are reported to be stable. There are four minors among those hospitalised. The incident occurred around 1:00 am.
"No offence has been registered as of now. We will conduct an enquiry," said senior PI Haresh Kalsekar of Mankapur police station.
How did the leak occur?
Preliminary investigation revealed that the leak occurred from a 900-kg chlorine cylinder kept on the plant premises for around six months, which developed a structural rupture in its outer wall.
Because chlorine is heavier than air, the toxic gas quickly spread at ground level into nearby residential areas (such as Collector's Colony and Fago Patil Layout), triggering coughing and severe breathing difficulties among residents.
Emergency responders from the NDRF, , local fire service, and Orange City Water (OCW) designated a 200-meter zone around the site as a no-man's-land. To halt the leak, NDRF personnel wearing self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) submerged the compromised 900-kg cylinder into a neutralisation tank filled with a caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) solution.
According to sources, the concentration of the gas in the area was gradually declining.
The OCW officials said that the affected facility is a Godhani Gram Panchayat-operated water plant and not an NMC-or OCW-operated facility.
