Jagan's Andhra govt gives Rs 10,000 to each of 19,893 persons affected in Vizag gas leak

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday said that Rs 10,000 has been deposited into each account of the people affected by the Vizag gas leak which happened earlier this month. Nearly 19,893 people residing in the affected villages have been compensated.

'We did our best to provide better compensation'

Interacting through a video conference with the officials, CM Jagan assured the affected people that based on the panel reports, stringent action will be taken against those responsible for the gas tragedy irrespective of their position.

"Within 10 days of the mishap, all the Styrene gas deposits of about 13,000 tonnes were shipped back to the parent company and all the victims' families were provided with compensation to support their livelihood. Like never before by any government, we did our best to provide better compensation to the families, which suffered due to the tragedy," the Chief Minister said, according to an official statement.

The Chief Minister said the government is preparing to issue health cards to these families to provide better health facilities and monitor their health for which village health clinics are going to be established.

'We didn't want to repeat the same mistake'

"Even earlier during Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) tragedy, we demanded the government to pay Rs 1 crore ex gratia to the kin of the deceased but all that was paid was only Rs 5 lakh. We didn't want to repeat the same and thus paid Rs 1 crore as ex gratia. People who were put on ventilators received Rs 10 lakh, and those who were treated for more than two days were given Rs one lakh and those with minor injuries received Rs 25,000," said Chief Minister Reddy.

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READ | Vizag Gas Leak: IAF airlifts 8.3 tonnes chemicals from Gujarat to control Styrene toxicity

As many as 12 people were killed when Styrene vapours leaked from the LG Polymers plant on May 7, while several hundred fell ill after inhaling the poisonous chemical at RR Venkatapuram near Visakhapatnam. LG Polymers in a statement on Monday said it successfully completed the transportation of the Styrene Monomer (SM) inventory within the plant as well as in the styrene tanks that were at the port. There is now no Styrene monomer left at the LG Polymers plant in Vizag.

READ | LG completes removal of deadly Styrene gas from Vizag, ships it back to South Korea

READ | After Vizag Gas Leak, company LG Polymers evacuating 13,000 tonnes Styrene to South Korea

(With ANI inputs)