Vizag gas leak: Chandrababu Naidu demands probe by expert committee to determine lapses

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu demanded the constitution of an expert committee including scientists to probe the Visakhapatnam gas leak incident which claimed 11 lives and hospitalized hundreds. He also called for compensation to be decided on the basis of the short, medium, and long-term impact of the incident on the locals.

"We demand State and Central government to constitute an expert committee to go through all details in the case. Based on that, any failure either technical or manual has to be established and guilty should be punished," N Chandrababu Naidu told reporters on Friday.

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Probe lapses through data

Naidu said technical and manual lapses in the "very unfortunate" incident need to be determined through use of scientific data. "It is a very unfortunate incident and there is no example of this type globally. What lapses have caused the incident, technical lapses or other, needs to be determined through scientific data," he said. "Air quality needs to be studied to understand the impact on health. If the issue is not handled well, people's lives can be at risk," Naidu added.

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CM's response not proper

The TDP chief also trained guns at CM Jaganmohan Reddy alleging his response to the incident was not proper and the government didn't go through proper investigation.

"The CM didn't have proper review of the incident. He should have visited the site, met with victims, and obtained more information and on that basis should have responded. He also praised the company (LG Polymer) which was not required. Because of administration failure, there was panic last night too. The government should more act responsibly," Chandrababu Naidu said.

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Vizag Gas leak

Gas leaked from LG Polymers chemical plant in RR Venkatapuram village in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Thursday 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 have reportedly been evacuated by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from Imhachalam, Gopalapatnam, Vepagunta. A total of 1000 people who have come in direct contact with the gas are being treated in hospitals currently.

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