Bhubaneswar: The state government is going to tighten rules for the storage and movement of ammonium nitrate in the state.
The Transport and Commerce department has recently directed the Transport Commissioner to tighten the rules and procedures relating to import, storage and transport of ammonium nitrate.
The department’s action came following the communication from Union Home Ministry, which says, “The matter does not pertain to narcotics section or Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and is related to preventing disaster due to ammonium nitrate explosion. Ammonium nitrate is explosive material. Therefore, it is requested to take appropriate action on this matter.”
The Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012 stipulates rigorous norms for storing the chemicals and it requires the intervention of local authorities to conduct periodical and surprise inspections to detect lapses that could lead to major accidents or the misuse of the chemical, former Union secretary EAS Sarma said in a mail to the MHA.
Stating that the monitoring part of the rules has remained slack, Sarma suggested that trucks carrying the chemical should be fitted with GPS logging devices so that their movement could be tracked.
