Director General of Police D. Goutam Sawang has said that everything is under control and there is no scope for further danger at the LG Polymers factory located at RR Venkatapuram in the city.
Interacting with the media after visiting the plant here on Saturday, Mr. Sawang said that the emission of vapours had been contained and safety measures were in place.
“We have also checked the status of other storage tanks and reactors in the plant and everything is normal, and there is no reason for panic,” he said.
Styrene monomer vapour leaked out of the safety valves from one of the storage tanks and spread over a radius of 3 km in the early hours of Thursday. The incident led to the death of 12 persons and hospitalisation of over 300.
“The containment is being done under the watchful eyes of scientists from the NEERI and NDRF. As per their reports, danger has been averted and containment is on in full swing. It will take another 48 hours to get back to normal, and then it will be under observation for another 24 hours. It is only after that we can ask people to return,” said Mr. Sawang, and hinted that everything should be in place by Monday.
‘More experts coming’
A couple of more expert teams would be arriving soon from New Delhi to assess the situation, he said.
Referring to a question on whether action would be taken against the company, the DGP said that cases had been booked against it under the relevant sections and a high-power committee had been formed to investigate the matter. “We will act based on the investigation report,” he said.
On the cause of the accident, he said it was too early to give any concrete reason. “It is being probed by different agencies. We will be able to comment only after the probe is completed,” said Mr. Sawang.
