ELURU: YSR Congress Party president and Opposition Leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday demanded that the State government cancel the licences of aqua units which pose a threat to the lives of peole and environment, be cancelled.
Speaking after visiting Nallamvarithota village in Mogalthur mandal of West Godavari district where five workers died due to asphyxiation in the effluents sump of Ananda aqua pre-processing unit after an ammonia gas leak, said all the units should be shifted to the seashore. He visited Narsapuram hospital where the bodies of the deceased were kept for postmortem, and consoled the family members of the victims.
People of Tundurru have been agitating for the past three years against setting up of Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park stating that it would cause large scale displacement, besides polluting the environment. But the Telugu Desam Government was indifferent to the genuine apprehensions raised by people of Tundurru and surrounding villages. "The Mogalthur incident has proved that their apprehensions are real. The location of aqua processing units in thickly populated villages is really a major health hazard. Hence, the government should shift all the aqua processing units from to the seashore to protect people from health hazads and save water bodies from pollution," he said.
Jagan Mohan Reddy also said everyone knows that the aqua units release effluents. However, the government is saying that there will be no pollution threat and a pipeline will be laid to the seashore to carry the effluents generated by the aqua park. It is amply evident after the Mogalthur unit incident that the mega aqua park with a capacity of 350 tonnes will pose greater threat as the Ananda unit run by the with a capacity of 30 tonnes run by the management, has caused a havoc, the YSRCP chief said.
He alleged that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naid was following double standards. Though the officials stat ed that the Mogalthur unit was pollution-free, waste generated by prawn processing was strewn everywhere on the aqua unit premises. The unit was also releasing the effluents into the irrigation causing severe pollution. He demanded the arrest of the Ananda aqua unit management for their failure to ensure the safety of workers. He also demanded payment of higher compensation to the victims' families.