Stench at Siddhivinayak, source unknown

In the area near Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi, for over six hours on Friday, firemen and the Dadar police tried unsuccessfully to locate the source of a strong stench that left locals panicked.

In the area near Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi, for over six hours on Friday, firemen and the Dadar police tried unsuccessfully to locate the source of a strong stench that left locals panicked.

HT Image

At 2 am on Friday, locals phoned the police control room and reported a strong foul stench. “The smell was so strong. We were scared as it smelled like a chemical leakage,” said Sunil Sawant, Indian Navy employee, and resident of Kamana building, located close to Siddhivinayak temple.

“Since Siddhivinayak is a high security area, we couldn’t ignore the stench,” said Pankaj Murkar, resident of the Raichandwadi area, which lies within one km of the temple.

“The fire brigade was not at all equipped for this, they were trying to locate the source of the smell manually. When we asked them if they had any equipment for this job, they told us they didn’t, that they usually do it manually,” said Sawant, who was one of the more than 100 people who gathered outside the temple.
Fire control officers said they got the call in the night and sent a fire control engine and an ambulance, but failed to find anything despite a four-hour search.

Uday Tatkare, chief fire officer, said the fire department has breathing sets to identify and locate the source of poisonous gases like ammonia. Tatkare said one possibility was that when chemicals are transported by tanker, they leave behind gas residues in the surrounding air.

“This could be an explanation because there are no chemical factories in the vicinity,” said Tatkare.He also said the season could be a factor: “This is winter, and gas let out by a transport vehicle will remain in the lower part of the atmosphere for much longer than it does in summer or the monsoon.”

The Dadar police did not register a case since the fire brigade did not find anything.