Panic gripped two villages located on Dewa Road in Chinhat area of Lucknow on Saturday, as some children fell sick reportedly due to the foul smell of dead cattle in the area. A day earlier, 28 bovines had died and at least 15 had taken ill / lost vision, allegedly, due to effluent released in a drain by a chemical factory located nearby. The incident occurred close to Tara Ka Purwa and Dayaram ka Purwa villages of Chinhat.
On Saturday, police registered an FIR against the owner of a chemical factory. The accused was booked under several serious charges, including insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace, said cops.
Tara Ka Purwa resident Rama Kant, who lost 18 buffaloes, and others lodged the FIR against Vishal Swaroop Agarwal, owner of Indian Pesticide Limited, and his employees at the Chinhat police station. Several other cattle owners also lost their animals in the incident, he said.
Inspector of Chinhat police station, Sachin Kumar Singh, said, “The factory and its employees have been booked under charges of fouling water of a public spring or reservoir, mischief by killing or maiming cattle, malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life, assault or use of criminal force, rioting, insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation.”
Later on Saturday, residents of Dayaram Ka Purwa also approached the police with complaints of children falling sick. Singh said a fresh complaint had been received from one Dilip Kumar of Dayaram ka Purwa. He said the complaint would be included in the previous FIR registered in the matter.
{{/usCountry}}Later on Saturday, residents of Dayaram Ka Purwa also approached the police with complaints of children falling sick. Singh said a fresh complaint had been received from one Dilip Kumar of Dayaram ka Purwa. He said the complaint would be included in the previous FIR registered in the matter.
{{/usCountry}}“Other than deaths of the cattle reported earlier, many other animals also fell ill and lost their vision due to the contaminated water,” reads the complaint submitted by Dilip Kumar. “The fumes and foul smell emanating from the carcasses as well as the contaminated water of the drain is also making children sick,” he said.
Complainant Rama Kant had earlier alleged that as many as 28 cattle died and 15 fell ill after drinking contaminated water of the drain. He said apart from him, villagers Ramu, Phool Chand, Raj Kumar and Rajesh Pal also lost multiple bovines in the incident. He also claimed that one animal was still missing.
Police said the number of cattle deaths was likely to rise, as over a dozen animals belonging to villagers were still reported missing.
The death of cattle triggered panic in the area and hundreds of villagers protested against the factory owner by blocking the Dewa Road on Friday. They alleged that the owner and his employees misbehaved with them, threatening them with dire consequences, when they questioned them regarding chemicals / effluent being released into the drain.
Taking a serious note of the incident, district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma sent a team of administrative officials and officers of the pollution control board to the site. “The officials collected samples of the drain water for further examination to recommend necessary action against the factory owner,” he said.
Meanwhile, pradhan of Tara Ka Purwa village, Sandip Singh, said this was not the first time that such an incident had occurred. “In a similar incident around a decade ago, several cattle were killed due to the chemicals released by the factory,” he claimed.
Volunteers of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitik) also protested, demanding closure of the factory. They handed over a memorandum to police officials, seeking compensation for the villagers who had lost their cattle and also urged the district administration to make necessary arrangements to treat the sick cattle.