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Andhra gas leak: Chandrababu Naidu demands to shut down LG polymers plant, seeks centre’s help
Chandrababu Naidu has written to Centre seeking help for treating poisonous gas victims.
TDP president Chandrababu Naidu has demanded that the LG Polymers plant, from where poisonous gas Styrene leaked in the wee hours of Thursday killing at least nine people and sickening over a thousand others, is shut down immediately and a probe is undertaken into the incident.
Naidu’s demand was made in a letter to Piyush Goyal, Union minister for commerce and industry. He also asked the Centre to rush experts with the knowledge of treating victims of Styrene Gas- a carcinogenic chemical. He added that a two-pronged treatment protocol was needed given the prevalent coronavirus infections which weaken a person’s lung and immunity system.
“I request you to send medical experts from India and globally to treat the victims of Styrene Gas. Further, Covid-19 infects the lungs and reduces the immunity of a person. Hence, it is essential that the medical aid should be two pronged, keeping in mind Covid-19 and Styrene Gas,” wrote Naidu.
Poisonous Styrene vapour leaked from a chemical plant in Vishakhapatnam in the early hours of Thursday, killing nine people and sickening over a thousand others, as it spread to nearby villages in a five-kilometre radius. The leak happened while the plant was preparing to reopen following ease of restrictions on industrial activity during the third-phase of national lockdown.
Director General of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) SN Pradhan said 500 people from 200-250 families living in the 3 km radius of the plant have been evacuated to safer places. The leak occurred from a plant that was holding about 1,800 kilo litres of the poisonous chemical, said news agency PTI.
Centre has already rushed a specialised CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) team from the National Disaster Relief Force along with medical specialists. Director General of (NDRF) S N Pradhan said the leakage from the factory is now minimal but the NDRF personnel will be at the spot till it is totally plugged, reported PTI.
