LG Polymers yet to respond to questionnaire on Vizag gas leak, says panel

Chairman of the High Power Committee formed to probe the styrene gas leak incident at LG Polymers plant in Visakhapatnam on May 7 has informed that the company is yet to respond to its questionnaire.

The press note from the high powered committee read, "An accident occurred in M/s L. G. Polymers (I) Pvt. Ltd., located at R.R. Venkatapuram, Visakhapatnam District at around 3.00 AM on 07.05.2020 and Styrene vapour was emitted from the storage tank affecting surrounding habitation. The Government of Andhra Pradesh vide G.0.RT.No. 803 dated: 08.05.2020 constituted a High Power Committee to probe into the causes behind the accident and to take stock of the recovery steps being taken in response to the incident."

"As informed earlier, the Committee invited views, questions and grievances from the public and received 243 Nos of representations through email and 176 Nos of representations through telephone/whatsapp. Based on these representations, the Committee prepared a questionnaire and communicated these questions to the M/s L. G. Polymers (I) Pvt. Ltd. through Factories department and the concerned regulators. The response from M/s L. G. Polymers (I) Pvt. Ltd. is awaited."
 

The committee said that some of the regulators have already replied to the questions and reply is awaited from some. The representations received from the public and the replies/reports received are being thoroughly examined and being considered in preparation of the report of the High Power Committee.

"The Committee has already held detailed interaction with many stakeholders in its visits to Visakhapatnam on 9th, 10 & 11th May, 2020 and 6, 7 & 8th June, 2020. The Committee also had discussions on 15.06.2020 with Dr. Sagardhara, Environmental Engineer & Environmentalist, Hyderabad and Dr. Baburao, Scientist, Hyderabad through video conference.

All the facets of the accident and implications were fully discussed in the video conference.""The High Power Committee is also scheduled to conduct some more meetings /hearings with the concerned regulatory authorities in this week. The Committee is working on expeditiously finalizing the report with inputs from all the members including Government of India representatives per the time frame indicated by the Government," the press note added.

Styrene gas, which leaked from the gas plant of LG Polymers in RR Venkatapuram village in Visakhapatnam district on May 7, had claimed over 10 lives and had left several people ill.