The Directorate of Factories of Andhra Pradesh has decided to issue a notice to pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) in connection with the gas leak incident at their manufacturing plant at Bollaram in Medak district,which left two persons dead. According to Bala Kishore,Director of Factories,the department has formally sealed the 'micronisation' room in which the mishap occurred. "We will issue a notice to the company in day or two,asking it to explain on certain aspects of the safety. Based on their reply,we may further proceed with filing case against them," Bala Kishore said today. He said that according to Factories Rules they need to file a case in the court within three months or otherwise it becomes invalid. Two persons-chemist Sridhar Reddy (38) and a contract worker Dipak Kumar Jena (22)- died on Tuesday night following the gas leak at the US Food and Drug Administration-approved plant at Bollaram that produces Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). The Factories Director said in the initial probe they found that there was power cut on the night of December 21,that disrupted air handling unit,which sends excess nitrogen gas from the "clean room",in which the victims were working on the process of micronisation of Omeprazole powder,leading to the leak. "Company should have made arrangements to see that the nitrogen gas stopped when the air handling unit does not function. We are studying on that angle. We are consulting some experts and we will take their opinion," Kishore said. He said they have formed a Committee to look into the whole episode. Meanwhile,Andhra Pradesh Drug Department said they are waiting the post mortem report of the two victims and based on that they would initiate action. "Our people have visited the plant to know the cause of incident. The bodies have been sent for examination. Only after we receive the report we will be able to ascertain the cause of the death. If there is any report that the deaths are due to some shortcomings of the system then we may think of taking action against the company," R P Meena,Director,General Drug Control Department said. After the incident,a DRL communique said the incident happened in the "clean room" located in one of the production blocks. Access to that area has been restricted. Manufacturing in the rest of the facility is continuing as the problem is limited to that particular area. Investigations by multiple authorities including the Factories Inspectorate,the Drugs Control Administration,Hyderabad and the Police are in progress and we will share full details once the investigations are concluded,it said. The local police have registered a case under Section 304 of IPC (causing death by negligence) and Section 22 of Dangerous Machines (Regulation) Act (compensation to operator in case of death or injury) against the company management.
