Pharma company blast: Kin of victims demand written assurance on compensation

Tense situation at KGH mortuary as relatives demand written commitment for compensation after reactor blast mishap.

A tense situation prevailed for some time outside the mortuary of the King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam on August 22 (Thursday) morning as relatives of victims of the reactor blast at Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited in Anakapalli, insisted that the officials must give them a written commitment on the payment of compensation.

Anakapalli Joint Collector Medida Jahnaviwas seen trying to convince the relatives of the victims to sign the autopsy forms. The relatives, however, insisted on the written commitment over the payment of ₹1 crore each as compensation to the family of the deceased.

Ms. Jahnavi said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had assured that he would announce the compensation. The relatives, however, did not relent.

CPI(M) Anakapalli district committee secretary K. Lokanadham flayed the company management for failing to come to the rescue of the workers after the mishap. “The company should have appointed a liaison officer to deal with the situation. Chemicals were stored in the HR Department of the company in violation of the rules,” he said and hailed the Collector, Joint Collector and SP of Anakapalli for their prompt response to the situation.

CPI(M) leader Ch. Narasinga Rao demanded that the government should set up a hospital with burns ward at Atchutapuram for the injured. “The self-certification by companies is to blame for the spate of industrial accidents. The system was introduced Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his earlier tenure in 2015 with the objective of getting a good rank for A.P. in Ease of Doing Business (EODB).” he said.

He alleged that the periodical inspections of companies were stopped after the introduction of the self-certification system and demanded that compensation cheques be given to the kin of the victims on the spot as was done in the aftermath of the mishap at the LG Polymers plant in Visakhapatnam in 2020.

CPI(M) district leader Jaggu Naidu attributed the frequent mishaps in pharma industries to the lack of action by the factory managements after the mishaps.