Vizag Gas Leak: NGT panel submits report; highlights massive negligence of LG management

Three weeks after the Vizag gas leak, the enquiry committee set up by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and headed by former Andhra Pradesh High Court judge B Seshasayana Reddy has submitted its report. In the report, the committee pointed out above 5 major lapses of LG management for the gas leak.

The report stated that there was insufficient tertiary Butyl Catechol concentration in styrene tank, which is used as an inhibitor to avoid polymerization at a lower temperature. It has further said that no monitoring system was at a place for dissolved oxygen, and the tank had no provision of monitoring temperatures at top layers of the storage. It also said that the refrigeration system was not being operated for 24 hours, and pointed out the 'gross human failure and negligence' of the person-in-charge of the plant. 

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SC refuses to interfere

The Supreme Court had on May 19 refused to interfere with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order issued earlier. The NGT had directed LG Polymers, the owners of the plant where the gas leak happened, to deposit Rs 50 crores for the damage caused by the Styrene gas leak. A bench headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit refused to entertain the petition filed by LG polymers challenging the order of the NGT. Apart from directing LG Polymers to pay Rs 50 crores, the NGT had also directed setting up of a 5-member committee headed by former judge Seshasayana Reddy.

READ | Vizag gas leak: SC refuses to interfere with NGT order directing LG Polymers to pay 50 cr

Vizag Gas leak

Gas leaked from LG Polymers chemical plant in RR Venkatapuram village in Visakhapatnam in the early hours on May 8 and quickly spread to villages in a five-kilometre radius, killing at least 11 people and impacting about 1,000, many collapsing to the ground as they tried to escape the toxic vapours. Around 2,000 mt tonnes of chemical gas Styrene was leaked, according to sources. Among the dead were two children, aged six and nine, a first-year medical student and two people who fell into a well while fleeing the vapours from the plant, getting ready to reopen after the lockdown. Around 3,000 people were evacuated by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from Imhachalam, Gopalapatnam, Vepagunta. 

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