VISAKHAPATNAM: The government has initiated steps to prevent industrial accidents in the district and the focus will be on safety, prevention of accidents, and pollution. In view of series of industrial accidents in the vicinity of Visakhapatnam in the recent past, particularly after styrene vapor leak at LG Polymers plant, accidents at pharma units at pharma SEZ and crane crash at Hindustan Shipyard, a committee headed by Joint Collector R Govinda Rao, has been formed to conduct an inspection of all industries in the district. District Industries Centre general manager Ramalinga Raju will be the member convener.
Officials of fire services, electricity, inspector of factories, Pollution Control Board, boiler department and others will be members of the committee. The committee has been asked to submit its report in 90 days. There are over 150 industries including pharma, chemical, petroleum and explosives manufacturing units in the district. A policy will be formulated with regard to payment of `50 lakh compensation to each victim’s family. It has been proposed to change the norm to make it mandatory to get safety compliance report from industries twice a year.