VISAKHAPATNAM: Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City at Parawada witnessed yet another industrial mishap on Monday night when huge blaze broke out in Visakha Solvents leaving one dead and another injured. The Department of Factories held a safety awareness drive involving all stakeholders of the Pharma City very recently.
In the last seven months, five accidents occurred in the Pharma City, in which seven persons were killed. On June 29, two persons died and four others were injured due to hydrogen sulphide leak at Sainor Life Sciences. In the same plant, a major accident occurred in 2015.
In a mishap at Smilax pharma, two persons died on December 27, 2019. Just a day before, one person died and 10 fell ill due to gas leak at Smilax unit. In 2019, one person died at Alkali pharma when he fell down while doing centring work on the first floor. At Actis generics plant, one person died after a fall while doing painting work.
The Pharma City was set up in 2,004 acres 14 years ago. There are 85 industries with 32,000 employees. In these pharma units, reactors play a crucial role in production of drugs. These reactors are of varied storage capacity from 1 kilo litres to 12 kilo litres.
The Pharma City witnessed 29 major and minor accidents in the last five years. In May 2017, two died and three others were injured in a fire accident at Azico Biophore India Private Ltd. One person died and 15 others were injured due to ammonia gas leak at Srikar Laboratories Private Ltd in 2016.
Some of the major industrial mishaps that occurred in Vizag, included oxygen pressure reducing station blast at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, killing 19 persons on June 13, 2012, HPCL Visakh Refinery fire which claimed 27 lives on August 23, 2013, and fire in HPCL Refinery in 1997 in which 22 persons were killed.
Cause for concern
The mishap took place in the Pharma City despite the Department of Factories holding a safety awareness drive involving all stakeholders very recently