PAV plea to Chief Minister to release Sub-Committee report on industrial safety

The High Power committee had recommended several short-term and long-term actions, which should be taken up by the State government

Praja Arogya Vedika (PAV) has appealed to the Chief Minister to make public the report of the Sub-Committee on Safety, compiled on the recommendation of High Power Committee, which was constituted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, following the LG Polymers styrene vapour leakage on May 7, 2020.

In a letter to Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the PAV general secretary T. Kameswara Rao noted that even though two years had passed after the LG Polymers incident, industrial accidents were occurring frequently in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts, which have a large number of industries. Some of the other districts like West Godavari, Nellore, Chittoor, Tirupathi and Kurnool have industries, which deal with high quantities of harmful chemicals.

The High Power committee had recommended several short-term and long-term actions, which should be taken up by the State government. The Sub-Committee, which was constituted, with the Joint Collector as chairperson, to study and report the safety measures undertaken on a monthly basis.

In the recent accident at Porus Pharmaceuticals at Akkireddygudem, six persons had lost their lives in the heavy reactor blast. The lack of safety precautions and procedures was resulting in accidents, death and injuries to several workers. The people of the surrounding villages and marine life were also turning victims to pollution from these industries.

Mr. Kameswara Rao sought that measures should be taken without any further delay to protect the lives of workers and the general public and to save the environment. The PAV suggested among other things: periodical safety audit at all industries, establishment of a super specialty hospital at Anakapalli and burns wards/units in the vicinity of major chemical and pharma industries, a comprehensive system must be evolved to address chemical and pharma fires separately, conduct of regular classes to workers on safety and occupational health, and prosecution of the violators of the law and ensure that they get exemplary punishment.