Trade unions attending a roundtable meeting held by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) to discuss the gas leak at LG Polymers said district officials were to blame for failing to take immediate action and launch rescue operations after the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday.
“Even though the vapour started leaking after midnight, the officials responded after 5 a.m.,” the union leaders said. Ambulances and other vehicles came after 5 a.m., by when 11 persons had already died and many falling sick, they added.
The union leaders also blamed the authorities for failing to release information to the people on Thursday midnight when they fled their homes in panic after rumours spread on social media that there was another leakage.
CITU State president Ch. Narsinga Rao claimed that according to scientists, the styrene gas was not lethal. Due to the delay in alerting people, hundreds fell ill, he said.
Arrest demanded
The unions wondered why the top officials of the company were not arrested immediately, and found fault with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy allegedly praising the LG Polymers management at a meeting during his visit to the city on Thursday.
Demanding a high-level independent inquiry, they said that accidents were occurring often at chemical industries in Visakhapatnam district and on different occasions in the past five years, 24 people had died and 74 suffered serious injuries.
The unions thanked the Chief Minister for announcing ex gratia for the bereaved families and financial assistance to the injured. They said that the ex gratia should be paid by the firm.
