JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, July 7, 2025

NGC: It was just a spraying exercise

by

20140108

Chair­man of the Na­tion­al Build­ing Code Com­mit­tee Shyankaran Lal­la has dis­missed re­ports from both the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny and Plipde­co chair­man Ian Ather­ly that the pun­gent smell which en­veloped parts of Cou­va yes­ter­day and forced an evac­u­a­tion of work­ers and stu­dents was not a gas leak.

"My in­for­ma­tion is that there was a dis­rup­tion of a nat­ur­al gas line near the golf course," Lal­la said in a tele­phone in­ter­view yes­ter­day evening, two days af­ter he had raised con­cerns about the in­fra­struc­tur­al in­tegri­ty of the lines on the es­tate, main­te­nance, in­spec­tion and ad­her­ence to the OSH reg­u­la­tions. Lal­la called on the NGC, Ather­ly and Cou­va South MP Rudy In­dars­ingh to tell the truth.

"It seems they have learnt noth­ing from the Petrotrin oil spill which is cost­ing that com­pa­ny mil­lions of dol­lars. When they cov­er up small in­ci­dents, then you will have the big ones," Lal­la cau­tioned. Ather­ly ini­tial­ly con­firmed yes­ter­day morn­ing that in a con­ver­sa­tion with In­dars­ingh he was told the scent had em­anat­ed from a ware­house at NGC. He said In­dars­ingh re­spond­ed to calls from schools, busi­ness peo­ple and res­i­dents about the strong gas scent which in­vad­ed his con­stituen­cy from ear­ly yes­ter­day morn­ing.

Around mid-morn­ing, Ather­ly said he was in­formed by In­dars­ingh that the scent em­anat­ed from the spray­ing of mala­t­ian at the Sevil­la Club. "I have been li­ais­ing with Mr In­dars­ingh and first it was a gas leak in a ware­house and the sec­ond up­date is that it was caused by the spray­ing of mala­t­ian. I am await­ing a re­port from my HSE peo­ple, head­ed by Ger­rel Tra­boulay," Ather­ly said,.

In a third tele­phone con­ver­sa­tion around noon, Ather­ly con­firmed that his HSE staff, to­geth­er with the NGC HSE team toured the area from Bal­main to Mc Bean, where they checked every gas junc­tion in and out­side of the es­tate and noth­ing was found. "What they said they un­cov­ered was in fact a spray­ing ex­er­cise was be­ing con­duct­ed at the Sevil­la Club.

I was told chem­i­cals mala­t­ian and phos­pho­rous were used for this ex­er­cise and this is where the scent em­anat­ed from," Ather­ly said. He said the Sevil­la Club is op­er­at­ed by the Sports Com­pa­ny of T&T. NGC, in a re­lease from cor­po­rate com­mu­ni­ca­tion man­ag­er Char­maine Mo­hammed, al­so con­firmed that the scent was not due to a gas leak but from a spray­ing ex­er­cise. Lal­la re­ject­ed these ex­pla­na­tions, point­ing out that mala­t­ian was com­mon­ly used by Ca­roni (1975) Lim­it­ed to spray crops in the past.

"So the peo­ple of Cou­va know the dif­fer­ence be­tween gas and mala­t­ian and what was em­a­nat­ing yes­ter­day was gas." He added: "My in­for­ma­tion came from peo­ple work­ing on the plant. A se­nior op­er­a­tor said the leak was up by the golf course and said 'they were keep­ing every­thing low.' "If there was no gas leak why then did the Sevil­la Club evac­u­ate, why did the At­lantic Plaza evac­u­ate. I would ad­vise Ather­ly, In­dars­ingh and NGC to do some fur­ther in­ves­ti­ga­tions to safe­guard the lives of the peo­ple in that com­mu­ni­ty," Lal­la said.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

8 hours ago
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

8 hours ago
Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford’s holistic mission

to transform the lives of girls

Yesterday
Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Nicole Drayton’s breast cancer journey–Fear, faith, and fighting back

Yesterday