Customs department asked to dispose of hazardous goods after Beirut blasts

Revenue department sends letter after report last week 740 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was lying in storage near Chennai.

The Customs department must ensure “hazardous, explosive” goods lying in stores are disposed of safely, the revenue department has said after a devastating explosion on Friday killed more than a 100 people in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

The department started a safety campaign Tuesday to dispose of “un-claimed/un-cleared/seized/confiscated goods” by August l. It was launched after reports last week that 740 tonnes of ammonium nitrate—the explosive material in the Beirut blasts–were stored in a Container Freight Station (CFS) near Chennai. Customs seized the material in 2015 after the company importing it failed to show a licence. A letter signed by Kevin Boban, Officer on Special Duty (Customs) at the Central Board of Indirect Taxes, was sent to all the Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs/ Custom (Preventive, Cental Tax and Customs on Monday.

“Expeditious disposal of goods that are of hazardous or explosive nature is especially necessary to prevent any damage to life and property that may arise. Needless to state, till the un-claimed/un-cleared/seized/confiscated goods are disposed as per law, they need to be kept securely and safely in accordance with all extant instructions,” said the letter. The revenue department asked the Commissioner of Customs to work with the Pollution Control Board or fire safety departments to ensure safe storage and handling of hazardous and explosive materials in a Customs area.

Covid-19: Stranded migrants can work during lockdown, but conditions apply

No interstate movement allowed; registration with local authorities must

The Union government on Sunday said that workers stranded in relief camps could go to work within the states they were in but didn’t give permission to let them go back to their home states or allow any interstate movement. The home ministry issued a “standard operating system for movement of stranded labour” to allow workers to resume work from April 20 when additional economic activities will begin in areas not
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designated as “containment zones”.

The government has said that migrant workers residing in relief camps in various states should be registered with the local authorities “and their skill-mapping be carried out to find out their suitability for various kinds of work”. “In the event…migrants wish to return to their place of work, within the state where they are presently located, they would be screened and those asymptomatic would be transported to their respective places of work,” the guidelines said.

However, many states in India have witnessed a surge in coronavirus disease cases that reported asymptomatic symptoms or in other words, without any symptoms associated with the disease. Also, the government did not elaborate on the procedure to screen such workers. For instance, in Maharashtra, 70-75 per cent of over 3,000 Covid-19 positive cases were asymptomatic. In Karnataka, this ratio stood at around 60 per cent. In Delhi, all 186 Covid-19 cases reported on Sunday were asymptomatic…