Villagers demand Vizag unit closure
Door-to-door survey to identify affected; firm apologises
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday announced a door-to-door survey in all villages close to LG Polymers India Limited to identify residents exposed to the leak of Styrene gas that claimed 12 lives, as hundreds of villagers staged a sit-in protest with bodies of the victims at the plant, demanding its closure.
LG Polymers, a unit of the Korean conglomerate, offered an apology to the people affected by the gas leak and condolences to the families of the dead and said normalcy had been restored at the plant .
“We would like to assure everyone that the company is committed to work closely with the concerned authorities in India to investigate the cause of this incident, prevent recurrence in the future, and secure the foundation for care and treatment,” a statement by the company said.
State industries minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy said normalcy would return to Visakhapatnam in 48 hours. “We shall conduct door-to-door survey to identify the affected people and extend help to them,” he said.
In the morning, tension prevailed at the plant in R R Venkatapuram village, where hundreds of people from the surrounding villages staged protest demanding its closure.
People tried to barge into the plant’s premises even as state director general of police Gautam Sawang was inspecting the storage tank from where the leak took place. “We want justice,” they chanted.
They stopped ambulances carrying the bodies of three of the victims from King George Hospital mortuary for cremation after a post-mortem examination and kept the bodies on the road at the company’s gates.
The protesters tried to gherao Sawang as he emerged from the plant. “It has been two days since the cases were filed against the management of LG Polymers.
But no action has been taken against any of the company officials till date,” an angry villager told reporters.
The police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the protestors. They bundled scores of protesters into vans and took them to the Gopalapatnam police station. The police also managed to shift the bodies to Venkatapuram village for cremation.
State minister for tourism M Srinivasa Rao and other ruling YSR Congress Party leaders tried to soothe the villagers saying the government would make efforts to see that LG Polymers shifts from there. Sawang said the highpowered committee would begin the investigation soon.