& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

South Ctg residents choked by smog in winter

Blame state-run fertiliser factory emission

MINHAJ LIDDIN, Ctg
As soon as winter evenings approach, residents of Hadi Para and Hossain Ahamed Para in Chittagong city's southern tip are driven indoors by a pungent intermittent haze.
Locals complain of burning eyes, lips and tongue and a tingling sensation on the face, nostrils and skin and, after an extended period of exposure, of feeling nauseous and breathless.
This year the smog, as the locals claim, blanketed the neighbourhoods on October 9 around 10:00pm, leading to low visibility and made staying even inside homes difficult. After around two hours, it lifted just as it came.
The locals unanimously pointed their fingers at the adjacent Triple
Superphosphate Complex Ltd, a state owned fertiliser factory' situated in the Patenga industrial area, blaming it for releasing toxic gases every' winter since its inception in 1964.
Reinforcing the claims, a former chief chemist of the factory; requesting anonymity, recently told The Daily Star that during overhauling every' winter, some gas containing sulphur-dioxide, silicon tetrafluoride, hydrogen fluoride and acid mist does escape.
The locals alleged that they had requested the factory authority to release the gas after midnight, if stopping it altogether is not possible, but to no avail.
Another bout of smog on November 4 prompted the locals to vandalise the factory compound. Police were called in but they too asked
to stop the emission. But the smog rolled in again, as per the locals, four times.
The factory's managing director, Golam Shahid Azad, over the phone recently, initially claimed that no such emission took place. He later admitted that some gas "might have escaped due to power outages".
On November 14, a petition, signed by 150 locals, was submitted to the Chittagong office of the Department of Environment (DoE).
Its director, Zafor Alam, said they got the same complaint last year and the factory authority had admitted that it was an "accidental leak".
The DoE at that time had issued a warning, he said, adding that this time they would investigate the matter and take punitive measures, if necessary;