VISAKHAPATNAM: Tension prevailed at the LG Polymers plant in RR Venkatapuram on Saturday morning for more than five hours with a large number of people staging a protest in front of the factory. They carried the bodies of three of the victims and demanded the relocation of the industrial unit.
A styrene gas leak two days ago at the LG Polymers unit on the outskirts of Vizag city led to the death of 12 people and left hundreds of others ill.
Police later shifted the bodies to the KGH mortuary after arresting some agitating locals and brought the situation under control. Additional forces, however, were deployed in the village anticipating flare up of protests.
It all started in the morning when police shifted the bodies of three deceased persons directly to the burial ground near Venkatapuram village to conduct the final rites. Enraged locals stopped the ambulances and forcibly carried away the three dead bodies to the entrance of the plant even as police tried to prevent them.
Raising slogans of 'We want justice', the locals said their only demand is the shifting of the unit from the present location. When some ministers and police tried to convince them that the government announced Rs 1 crore compensation to the victims, they asserted that compensation cannot bring back the lives lost and demanded that the industrial unit, which poses danger to them, be relocated from the area.
Some of the protesters even pointed out that the management of LG Polymers never cared for the people in the area. Leave alone conducting periodical medical camps, which is the norm, it failed to even sound an alert when there was a gas leak, they alleged.
They obstructed labour minister G Jayaram and others who visited the plant. Meanwhile, Director General of Police Gautam Sawang, who visited the plant and took stock of the situation, also faced the ire of locals who tried to stop him, demanding arrest of the company management. Police had a tough time in dispersing the agitators to make way for the DGP to leave the place.
Speaking to media at the plant, the DGP asserted that the situation is completely under control. Sawang said a team of scientists having expertise in chemicals and oils will be visiting the LG Polymers plant at Visakhapatnam to suggest the 'way forward'.
Sawang said all safety measures are in place and people need not panic. He said state government officials including Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney and technical experts, scientists and special teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) comprising senior officials are at the plant and reviewing the safety measures. "I believe that the other tanks in the plant are absolutely normal and there is nothing to worry,'' he said.
On the probe into the mishap, the DGP said the matter is under investigation and the five-member committee constituted to look into the issue will also take the expert technical inputs and continue the probe.
On the level of containment and when locals can return to their homes, Sawang said experts sought 48 hours time (on Friday) as per protocol to bring normalcy. "Though everything is normal now, to be on the safer side, they sought 48 hours time and people can come back to their homes tomorrow. People, however, are coming to their homes and taking their belongings. There is nothing to worry," he said, adding there will be some inconvenience to locals till tomorrow.
Asked about bailable cases registered against the management even as the disaster left 11 people died, the DGP said, "The case was registered under all applicable sections and investigations are on."