Hyderabad: A major fire on July 10, 2024, at the Sri Dattasai Complex near RTC crossroads forced the evacuation of patients from the neighbouringTapadia Diagnostic Centre in Hyderabad, raising alarm over chemical hazards in residential areas. Although no casualties were reported, residents say no lessons have been learned.
Above the Tapadia Diagnostic Centre lies an ice cream flavour and fragrance unit, allegedly using flammable and industrial-use chemicals that are not to be used in the food production industry. The unit, Raj Flavours and Fragrances, is now under the scanner following months of continuous complaints from residents living hardly 10 metres away.
P Sharath Kumar, 25, who lives in Pattabhi Towers, located just a few metres away from Tapadia Diagnostic Centre, has been knocking on the doors of the state and Central government departments since December 2024. He claims that the unit’s fumes are bringing on acute respiratory distress among the 240 residents of his building and adjacent buildings.
As related by Sharath, the unit mixes Propylene Glycol USP with flavoring chemicals like Ethyl Vanillin, substances he says are unsafe for food use, if at all, and definitely not for use in homes.
He alleges that the company’s unit, which has been mentioned as an administrative office in GHMC’s records, but was being used as a manufacturing unit. Sharath’s primary demand is clarity: whether the industrial-grade chemicals being used are safe for food consumption, and whether the unit poses a fire or health risk to residents.
Sharath initially complained to GHMC through the corporation’s mobile application on December 12, 2024. A town planning officer visited the spot — but nothing happened thereafter.
He went on to report the matter to the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TGPCB), bringing it to the notice of senior officials. The company, as per GHMC documents, belongs to one Rahul Tapadia.
TGPCB, in turn, sent the matter back to GHMC in a letter that did not mention the company’s name either. Sharath was informed that the issue fell under GHMC’s domain.
In January, he took the grievance to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which asked the TGPCB to respond. Sharath also filed a complaint with the GHMC Prajavani grievances redressal programme, but it was mistakenly routed to the Khairatabad zone rather than Secunderabad, causing further delay.
As the matter concerns food, he raised the issue with the food safety wing of the GHMC, whose officials inspected the facility, tested the contents, but their results were not revealed.
The GHMC’s medical officers also inspected the facility thrice and acknowledged the chemicals used in the manufacturing, but failed to clarify whether the factory was safe, inflammable, or free of health hazards.
Sharath, along with the Pattabhi Towers Owners’ Federation Association, state that the sweet, sugary and buttery chemical odours released into the air are actually Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs,) airborne chemicals that are known to be the cause of asthma, respiratory distress, and long-term health issues.
Sharath also complained to the Food Safety Standards Authority of India, raising a ticket on its online grievance portal. In a strange twist, he claims the then nodal officer had posted a “photograph riding a horse” as the department’s reply to the complaint.
He has also approached the Hyderabad district collector multiple times in the past 6 months,. Every time, the issue was referred back to GHMC.
In March, he escalated the issue with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in March, which asked for a reply from GHMC officials. None was given.
When he contacted the Hyderabad Disaster Response, Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA), he was informed that the agency would only act post-disaster, and that the issue didn’t come under it’s purview.
Six months on, there is still no closure, seemingly because of the alleged violator belonging to the Tapadia family, which owns a chain of diagnostic centres in the twin cities.
Sharath informed that his father, a retired chief executive officer of a co-op bank, had to move back to their hometown of Sircilla because of the deteriorating air quality in their apartment building. They both have asthma.
“How can they bring any chemical coming from the US, which can’t be used even in paints or any food, to be used in the ice creams consumed by children? Even the New Jersey health department has marked Propylene Glycol as a hazardous chemical, which has been banned there. I only want to know why it is being allowed in the food industry here,” Sharath seeks to understand.
Sharath informed Siasat.com that the owner of the flavours company served him a defamation notice, which he did not respond to. He instead approached the Chikkadpally police station and also the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), central zone, questioning how a question of public interest to government agencies could constitute defamation.
He remembers the GHMC food safety nodal officer informing him that all petroleum-based goods, say Vaseline, are also inflammable, yet the public uses them everywhere.
He recalled another food safety officer questioning him as to why he was bothered by the working of this particular company only, while there were many food joints adulterating food, and whether getting to be near Sapthagiri and Odeon cinemas, Bawarchi Restaurant, and other commercial centres was not exposing him to polluted food and sound pollution.
Most recently, the chief medical officer told Sharath to prove that the chemical being used by the company was impacting the health of the people.
When Sharath obtained videos of the chemicals that were being delivered to the flavours company, one of the food safety officials, who visited the facility, attempted to argue on its behalf.
“In every office, they give answers like that. I have filed 9 Right to Information (RTI) requests seeking information. Barring the central government departments, the state government’s departments have not answered my RTIs,” Sharath says, informing Siasat.com that he was presently sending them for the first appeal, after which he intends to approach the chief information commissioner (CIC).
Sharath is not the only one who has raised an alarm. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Surender, the former secretary of the Pattabhi Towers Association, had complained to TGPCB that his mother was experiencing respiratory issues because of the fumes emanating from the company.
He told Siasat.com that though officials visited the facility, no action was taken. Due to health concerns, he shifted from the apartment, and his mother subsequently died.
B Vivek, a former commander in the Indian Navy, who presently lives with his old mother at Pattabhi Towers, opined that a company using combustible chemicals shouldn’t be located close to a residential area and a metro station. “The question here is whether those chemicals are safe or not. If the administration says it is safe, then there is no issue. But they aren’t stating it. That’s the issue,” he said.
As Vivek’s apartment is located on the diagonally opposite side of the apartment away from the company, he isn’t sure about the impact of the fumes on his side of the apartment.
R Gunasekhar, retired divisional manager of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), also complained to TGPCB during the pandemic, along with 30 other residents.
“The official who came to inspect the facility questioned us about how we were feeling the smell, when he wasn’t able to smell anything strong there,” informed Gunashekhar, who had been living in Pattabhi Towers since it was constructed in 1986. However, he too was forced to shift his residence, told Siasat.com.
“We came to know that the chemicals being used there are highly explosive and are not at all good for human health if consumed. How can such things be permitted?” he questioned.
There are nine signatories in Sharath’s new complaint.
When Siasat.com spoke with GHMC health officer Dr Praveena, she informed that the company has been operating for the past 30 years, and was being run by all-women staff. She said that it wasn’t a factory and was being run in a portion.
“We have also asked the complainant to provide a list of health problems being faced by the residents of the apartment, but nobody except the complainant has raised any health concerns. We have written to all the departments concerned, and the reports are awaited,” she said.
GHMC’s Food Safety Inspector Bhairi Sahithi assured that the samples were tested, sent to the laboratory for analysis, and the results were also available. However, upon a query for reports, she replied that only the Secunderabad Zonal Commissioner was in a position to disclose them.
With the Tapadia Diagnostic Centre situated beside the fire-affected Sri Dattasai Complex, and only a few meters away from the RTC X Roads metro station and Pattabhi Towers, any inadvertent ignition of combustible chemicals would be disastrous.
According to Sharath, after he began raising red flags, the company installed “fire balls” worth 1.6 lakh that can douse fires internally in case of an accident.
He also says that the company may have moved from using chemicals of industrial use to oil-based flavours.
Sharath opined that the officials are intentionally dragging the matter. “Even the company is fed up with being approached by the various departments to exert pressure on them to extort money as fines. Even certain media outlets have taken their share while appearing to have covered the issue. Even the company is asking the officials to issue in writing whether the flavours as safe or not, and if the facility has to be moved elsewhere. But by prolonging the issue and not being decisive, the officials only appear to be using the issue/company as a golden goose,” Sharath remarked.
On July 24, the GHMC deputy commissioner sent a notice to Raj Flavours and Fragrances, requesting that the company provide Pollution Control Board certification for the company’s activity within three days. GHMC confirmed receipt of the company’s explanation and certificates of chemical use following an earlier notice.
We will see if this long-pending issue will now get on the move, or lapse back into another round of bureaucratic inaction.
