Vizag gas leak: LG Polymers would be asked to explain, says AP Industries Minister

Maintaining that the administration was taking all precautionary steps,the minister said the factory was not being operated, but personnel were trying to get it to readiness.

Vapour billows out from LG Polymers industry after a major chemical gas leak in RR Venkatapuram village Visakhapatnam. (Photo| PTI)

VIJAYAWADA: Industries and Commerce Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy has held the management of LG Polymers responsible for the tragic death of 11 persons and falling ill of several others following the leakage of gas from its unit at RR Venkatapuram in Visakhapatnam. He asserted that it was gross negligence on the part of the engineering department of the unit. The management of the company should give an explanation for the tragic incident. 

“LG Polymers unit comes under hazardous material category. We have a special protocol for all the companies dealing with such material, which happens to be the raw material in preparation of some essential commodities. We have told them that they should have senior management and technical experts and people with knowledge to restart the operations taking utmost care while dealing with hazardous material.

However, in this case we observed violations on the part of the management and the responsibility to clear the air lies on the LG Polymers management,” he told TNIE. Stating that the shutdown process was initiated immediately after noticing the leakage of gas through one of the chimneys in the early hours of Thursday, he said they neutralised the chemical in the storage tanks by reverse polymerisation and curtailed the gas leakage. The minister said he spoke to the South Korean Ambassador to India and wanted him to respond in a manner that they react when such incidents take place in EU and America.