After over eleven persons were killed due to Styrene gas leaking from the LG Polymers factory at Visakhapatnam in the early hours of May 7, the Andhra Pradesh government set up a high-level probe committee to investigate the matter, however, the FIR on the gas leak registered at the Gopalapatnam police station by the local police is almost questionable, The Indian Express reported.
The FIR was registered under Sections 278 (Making atmosphere noxious to health); 284 (Negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance), 285 (any act with combustible matter to endanger life), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304-II (Knowledge that the act had likelihood of causing death) of IPC.
Yet, filed almost five hours after the incident, at 7 AM on May 7, all the FIR states is that “some smoke came out” of the factory, that there was a “bad smell” and it was this smell that endangered life. “At about 0330 hrs some smoke came out from the LG Polymers Company, due to the reason the neighbouring villages (were) affected and getting bad smell and the smell is endanger to human life. Due to fear, all villagers ran…from the houses. In the incident, 5 persons died and the remaining people were admitted in hospitals as in-patients.” Incidentally, the death toll mentioned here is five when 10 had already been confirmed dead by the time the FIR was filed.
Despite the fact that police officials had confirmed the presence of this gas, the FIR did not mention Styrene in the FIR. No official from the company was named in the complaint too. This, even when the Joint Chief Inspector of Factories, Visakhapatnam, J Siva Sankar Reddy told IE that the “responsibility of reopening the factory safely” after the lockdown was that of General Manager and Director of Operations, LG Polymers, P P Chandra Mohan Rao.
“But he was not present in the factory on the intervening night of May 6-7 when it was decided to restart operations,” he said.
Eight-member team arrives
An eight-member technical team from the Seoul headquarters of LG Chem in South Korea led by the President of the company, arrived at the LG Polymers plant at RR Venkatapuram on Wednesday. The team comprising of experts from production, environment and safety will work closely with district authorities to investigate the cause of the incident and support rehabilitation measures. The team will also meet the families of the deceased and other affected families to explain the support measures in detail.
Studies of the extent of the impact of vapours on people in affected villages are still going on. Speaking to The New Indian Express, Prof S Bala Prasad, a noted environmental expert and Chairman of the committee constituted by the State government to study the gas lead impact at LG Polymers, said, that the study will be completed in five days, after which the concentration levels and the duration of time people inhaled the vapours at different times in different villages would be ascertained.
Meanwhile industrial accidents continue across the country.
Nitrogen gas leak at Bokaro Steel Plant
After the gas leak at LG Polymers in Vizag, came the news of a nitrogen gas leak at the Bokaro Steel Plant which took place from a transformer at the hot strip mill on Monday evening. At least three people, including a deputy general manager (DGM) fainted after inhaling the nitrogen gas, reported the The Telegraph.
Bokaro Steel Plant chief communication officer (CCO) Manikant Dhan said that the incident occurred when one of their senior officials from the distribution network department and two workers were inspecting a new transformer adjacent to the hot strip mill department, the wing where steel sheets are made.
The cause of the leak that took place on Monday, May 11, at 7:30 PM, has not been ascertained yet said officials. Dhan said, “Since the inquiry committee report is pending, we are unable to ascertain the cause leading to the exposure to this gas. DGM V. Narayan and the two other employees were admitted to Bokaro General Hospital (some 150km from Ranchi), where they are stable. They will be released soon after the observation period is over in the hospital.” However, he signalled that negligence during the installation of the transformer in the hot strip could have been a reason behind the leak.
Telangana’s biodiesel reactor explosion kills 2, injures 1
Two workers were killed and another one injured when a reactor in a biodiesel plant exploded while they were undertaking repair work in Telangana’s Sangareddy district on Wednesday morning, the police said. The incident took place at Khanda Biofuels, a biodiesel plant in Arjun Naik Thankda of Zaheerabad block in the district, when the workers were involved in welding work on the roof of the fuel reactor. The plant was getting ready to reopen after lockdown.
The victims were identified as Md Ghouse (35) and Md Saber (33). Another worker Krishna Reddy, who sustained injuries, has been admitted to the Sangareddy government hospital, The Hindustan Times reported.
The management has agreed to pay a compensation of Rs 15 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
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Vizag gas leak: High Powered Committee meets stakeholders, begins probe