Inspections at two Indian chemical companies based in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra were recently carried out by the Hague-based Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The OPCW carried out inspections of Krishna Antioxidants at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and Divi Laboratories Ltd at Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) said.

While Krishna Antioxidants is an OCPF facility in terms of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their destruction, Divi Laboratories Ltd is a Schedule 2 facility.

Till April, the OPCW has carried out 100 inspections in India.

To create awareness among the stakeholders on the obligations under CWC, and the CWC Act and to improve the quality of declarations by the industry, a series of awareness generation programmes are held at various locations in the country with a concentration of chemical industry relevant to CWC.

In April, the DCPC organised two programmes on chemical safety at Mumbai and Vadodara.

The DCPC is responsible for submission of industry declarations, facilitation of inspections by OPCW teams as also creating awareness in the industry about its obligations under CWC. Certain toxic chemicals and their precursors are covered under the ambit of the CWC, of which India is a signatory.