Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday announced the constitution of a five-member expert committee to inquire into the gas leak incident at LG Polymers here in which 10 persons died and over 350 others were hospitalised.
The committee will be headed by Special Chief Secretary (Environment and Forests) and comprises Industry Secretary, the Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner, Secretary (Pollution Control Board) and the district Collector.
Mr. Jagan, who rushed to the city by helicopter on hearing the news, visited the affected people at the KGH.
Later addressing officials, he said the committee would also suggest measures to prevent a repeat of such incidents. If the committee suggested shifting of the plant, the government would take it up with the multinational company.
The Chief Minister expressed surprise over the absence of an alarm system at the plant.
‘Team spirit on display’
He said the district administration, police and disaster management teams rose to the occasion by evacuating people in the vicinity of the plant and rushing the affected persons to hospitals.
“From what I understand, the situation was challenging, but personnel of various wings worked as a team to shift over 350 people to various hospitals, including some who were in an unconscious state,” he said.
On the occasion, the CM announced that a compensation of ₹ 1 crore each would be paid to the families of the deceased.
“Whatever the company pays, which will be taken care of by the government, we will chip in with the rest to ensure the compensation comes to ₹1 crore,” he said. In addition, the CM also promised a job to one dependent of the family of the deceased. Besides, he announced ₹ 25,000 for primary care and ₹ 1 lakh each to those hospitalised.
The CM also promised ₹10 lakh each to those put on a ventilator. “No one has to pay a single rupee for hospitalisation,” he pointed out.
‘Will stand by villagers’
Mr. Jagan said five villages — RR Venkatapuram-I, RR Venkatapuram-II, SC / BC Colony, Padmanabhapuram and Nandamuri Nagar— have been affected and people in these villages would be under stress. “We promise to give financial help to the tune of ₹10,000 to each of the 15,000 families in these villages,” he said.
He asked the Collector to organise free medical camps and shelter homes and provide quality food to the affected people.
He said Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, District in-charge minister K. Kanna Babu and Tourism Minister Avanthi Srinivas would camp in the city for the next two days to monitor the situation.
