Mekapati Goutham Reddy, the Industry Minister of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.,) on the 7th of May, spoke about the reason behind the tragic Visakhapatnam Gas leak incident.
Mr. Reddy said, negligence by LG Polymers caused the gas leakage from its plant in Visakhapatnam with 8 casualties and affecting nearly 5,000 people in the City.
Mekapati Goutham said, “A responsible company like LG should have taken extra precautions.” However, he said the volume of the gas leaked was not much, therefore, there would be no future casualties due to the incident.
Focusing on the relief packages for the victims, Mr. Reddy said, “We will study long-term effects of this on the surrounding villages and announce relief measures for the affected.” He further added, “We have instructed (the) concerned authorities to take (the) required measures on a war footing. Villages evacuation is underway. Request citizens not to panic and cooperate with (the) authorities.”.
The Andhra Pradesh Government also organised a help desk in the office of the general manager of the department of industries in Visakhapatnam. Anyone could contact these help desks and dial the mentioned helpline numbers- 7997952301, 8919239341 and 9701197069.
Assuring quick response from the Visakhapatnam police, Gautam Sawang, the Director General of Police (DGP,) said, “Quick response teams were deployed soon after the outbreak and people were evacuated to safe places.”
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP) and nearby police were deployed to rescue and shift people to safe places.
The rescue operation is still underway.
Stay tuned for further updates.
Source : IANS.
