The Regional Council institutionally approved the five action plans for the decontamination of the territory, on 2 June 1977. The ”first action plan” pertained to the verification and inspection of the polluted soil, water and vegetation as well as the decontamination and reclamation of the lands and buildings, “to prevent the spread of the pollution.” The second plan, however, concerned the verification, inspection, health assistance and safeguarding of public health in the affected areas. These also included verification, inspection and interventions in the fields’ medical and veterinary prophylaxis and veterinary assistance.
More
The third programme was about social welfare and education, including in the process a solution to the problem of “evacuated persons.” ”Action plan number 4” involved the renovations or rebuilding of the civil structures and housing facilities, which could not be recovered, and the “realization of necessary public works that would establish adequate living conditions for the particular situation of the affected areas and reactivate the production capacity of the affected agricultural lands.” The programme, therefore, was directly connected with the ideas that the Regional Council had been proposing since February, when procedures for the expropriation and construction of new homes were supposed to be ready by and not later than 30 June 1979. The president of the Regional Council of Lombardy also mentioned that the cost of the construction of new homes would be fully charged to la Roche-Givaudan.
The fifth programme comprised coordinated interventions in favour of companies, sole or group proprietorships, establishments that were agricultural, artisanal, or touristic, hotels, and industrial and commercial companies that suffered damages “as a result of the contamination from toxic substances.”
Together with the approval of the five action plans, the Region also determined the estimated costs that reached almost 122 billion Lire.
On 16 June 1977, at the central government level, the parliament approved the creation of a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission to address the leakage of toxic substances by ICMESA and had the task of ascertaining the activities of the factory of Meda, the administrative responsibilities related to the industrial assignment and the consequences of the incident for public health, environment and economy of the area. The Commission composed of 15 deputies and 15 senators, was also entrusted with the task of indicating the measures to be adopted “to compensate citizens that had suffered damages from the incident of 10 July 1976, and obtaining compensation payments for said damages from those responsible.” In May 1977 the ban on the cultivation, breeding and consumption of agricultural products and animals from “Zone B” and the “Zone of Regard” was extended. For the municipality of Seveso the extension was for an “indefinite period,” while for Meda, the ban was extended only until the end of the year.
