Naidu expresses concern over industrial accidents, to form panel to check safety measures

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu addresses industrial accidents in Visakhapatnam, emphasizing the need for safety measures and proper management.

Expressing concern over the industrial accidents in the State in the last five years, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that safety should be a top priority of the managements. Since 2019, the combined Visakhapatnam district reported 119 industrial accidents in which 120 people died, he said.

Mr. Naidu visited the accident site at the plant of Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited at the Atchutapuram Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Anakapalli near here on Thursday, August 22. He was briefed about the cause of the incident by district Collector Vijaya Krishnan and other officials.

Later, addressing a press conference, Mr. Naidu said that in the last five years the previous government had formed committees following industrial accidents but the recommendations of the committees were never implemented.

Mr. Naidu said that the management of Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited, a red-category industry, did not follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). The chemical was explosive and the result was devastating, he said, adding that a high-level committee was being formed to investigate the incident and submit a report.

He said that all the industries, especially the red-category units, should take safety measures. The managements should conduct an internal audit.

Mr. Naidu said that the NDA government had huge respect for industries which helped in employment generation and development of the State. He said 99% of the industries were functioning responsibly, but due to one percent of them such accidents were occurring.

“In this case, the management members are said to be having some differences among them. But when such incident occurs, it is the basic responsibility of them to come here. But they delegated the responsibility to some other person. The managements cannot take everything for granted. It takes a minute for me to act firmly, but that is not our aim,” he said.