Year on, residents near Vizag plant live in fear
A year after the poisonous gas leak from a plant in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam killed 12 people , villagers settled near the factory said they continued to live in fear.
On May 7 last year, poisonous Styrene gas leaked from one of the tanks at LG Polymers Ltd due to sudden rise in temperature at the bottom of the tank at around 3.30am. The gas slowly spread over a radius of about 3km, affecting five villages — Venkatapuram, Venkatadri Nagar, Nandamuri Nagar, Pydimamba Colony and BC & SC Colony.
Srinu Yadav, a transport worker from Venkatapuram, said the incident had created havoc in the lives of several villagers. “Many in these villages, particularly Venkatapuram, where the LG Polymers plant is located, continue to face health issues, like breathing problems, asthma, and gastrointestinal disorders,” Yadav said.
An eight-member expert committee headed by state special chief secretary (environment and forests) Neerabh Kumar Prasad,
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which was constituted to probe into the mishap, came up with a series of suggestions, including periodical testing of health conditions of villagers in the area so as to monitor the short-term and long-term impact of the Styrene gas on their health.
“Subsequently, a committee of health experts was appointed to regularly monitor the health of people in the affected villages, but it did not commence its work because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” K Kumara Mangalam, a local trade union leader, said.
A study conducted this March by local environmentalists observed that the GVMC authorities were neither monitoring water bodies periodically nor getting an expert study on the water quality. “Most of the households are depending on the canned water for drinking purposes and spending between ₹300- 600 per month,” said K Eswar, another resident.
An official of the GVMC, however, said on condition of anonymity: “Scientists studied the water samples in and around the area and found that styrene is insoluble in water and would drain away in case of water flow.”