Probe finds 2 officials guilty

A probe committee has held two high officials of DAP fertiliser factory responsible for the ammonia gas tank explosion on August 22 and recommended they be withdrawn.

The Chittagong district administration's probe committee suggested taking punitive departmental action against Deputy Chief Engineer (electricity) Dilip Kumar Barua and General Manager (Technical and Maintenance Service) Md Nokibul Islam and realising compensation for the damage from their gratuity.

The three-member committee also opined that lack of coordination among different sections was one of the main reasons for the accident that sent around 50 people to hospital and damaged the environment.

Led by Additional District Magistrate Md Mominur Rashid, the body submitted the report to Deputy Commissioner Mesbah Uddin yesterday afternoon. The committee was formed a day after the explosion of the 500-tonne ammonia tank at the factory in Rangadia area of Anwara upazila.

“Fortunately, we were saved from a massive disaster as the movement of the wind was towards the river. If the wind movement was in the opposite direction, the damage to lives and properties could have been greater,” said Mesbah Uddin at the conference room of his office.

Much of the 340 tonne liquid ammonia went into the base dyke of the tank. As a result, most of it got trapped and fire officials managed to dilute it by spraying water. Still, 47 people, most of whom were ansar members, were injured, the report said.

According to the report, the five safety systems for the ammonia tank cooling/refrigeration, pressure gauges, two pressure-transmitter-computers, two pressure vents and flare system were not operational. 

As the safety systems were not functional, the tank exploded due to excessive pressure of gas despite having only 340 tonnes of liquid ammonia.

The operations department of the factory had informed the maintenance department about the malfunction of the five security systems on August 20 when production was stopped.

The maintenance department sent technicians for repairs but they returned unable to fix the faults.

Deputy Chief Engineer Dilip Kumar Barua and General Manager (Technical and Maintenance Service) Md Nokibul Islam were entrusted with the duty to supervise the technicians. However, they neither supervised, nor fixed the problems, the report said.

GM Nokibul even told investigators that he does not visit the plant and that his sub-ordinates visit it. He does not even consider supervising the plant his routine work, said the report quoting his statement.

Quoting DCE Dilip's statement, the report said he never does any maintenance or repair work. When the last computer for pressure transmitter broke down, he did not take the initiative to repair it properly, instead he sent the computer to a local mechanic.

Sending the computer, in which mission critical software is installed, to un-authorised mechanic and not going to the tank to see for himself the situation were irresponsible of him, the report mentioned.

The men running the plant had no training. The probe committee were surprised to learn that the DAP authority entrusted the manpower without training them.

The Daily Star reached out to GM Nokibul who refused to comment until the departmental probe on the incident was complete. This paper called DCE Dilip several times for comments but he did not pick up his phone.

During the enquiry, Executive Engineer (electricity) Kazi Masudur Rahman claimed that the construction of the tank was weak. The probe committee opined that the officials were blaming construction fault to cover up their faults.

The committee found that Tk 5-6 crore was lost due to the destruction of the old tank and Tk 20-22 crore would be needed to install a new one. Besides, fish worth Tk 1.27 crore and animal worth Tk 2 lakh were killed. The extent of environmental damage was still being assessed, said the DC Mesbah.

Terming the DAP factory an unaccountable organisation, the committee suggested improving the management of DAP and coordination among departments; ensuring transparency and accountability in its activities, the decision making on buying, repairing; entrusting the managers with the responsibility of running daily activities; establishing a strong chain of command among workers; and installing a firefighting and safety unit for the factory.