Residents of Maniktala, in east Calcutta, are up in arms over the mushrooming of godowns storing hazardous chemicals. They have moved a public interest litigation (PIL) in Calcutta High Court, complaining about the threat to their lives.

“We were compelled to move the high court’s green bench on June 11, 2003, as our repeated pleas to the government and the local police to remove the godowns from the area had fallen on deaf ears,” said Nirmal Kumar Modi, a businessman.

He complained that residents had not received any support either from the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (PCB) or the local police, who were first approached in 1994.

Modi claimed the godowns store hazardous chemicals like sodium cyanide, potassium cyanide, heat treatment salts (containing 60 per cent of sodium cyanide), solvents, thinners, turpentine, rubber chemicals and other liquid chemicals. “We wonder how the police and the PCB allow such chemicals to be stored in a residential area,” Modi said.

His neighbours said a 10-bigha plot, housing several factories and chemical warehouses at 188, Maniktala Main Road, is a seat of explosives.

“We fear the entire area may blow up some day, killing all of us,” said an elderly lady, a resident of the area for the past 50 years.

For several years, the factories have generated noxious gases, polluting the residential neighbourhood and resulting in health hazards among the residents, they complained.

A factory fire on October 10, 2003, was an eye-opener and left the residents panic-stricken. It took 22 fire-tenders more than three hours to douse the flames.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the factory had no fire-fighting equipment, nor did it abide by the rules of the PCB — it operated without a proper pollution control system in place, though it stored hazardous chemicals.

The PCB guidelines state that industries falling under the ‘special red’ category cannot be set up in municipal areas under the Calcutta Metropolitan Area.

The residents argued that chemicals listed under the category are stored in the godowns with full knowledge of the local police and PCB.