VISAKHAPATNAM: The family members of eight victims who died after a gas leak from the LG Polymers plant at RR Venkatapuram were given Rs 1 crore each as ex gratia.
A group of ministers comprising Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, Botcha Satyanarayana, Kurasala Kanna Babu and Dharnana Krishna Das handed over the compensation to the legal heirs of the victims at King George Hospital here on Monday.
Since there was a delay in obtaining legal heir certificates, compensation could not be paid to the kin of the four other victims. In all, 12 persons died and several hundred were hospitalized following the gas leak.
Kanna Babu said as per the decision of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Rs 1 crore was deposited in the account of the legal heirs and along with the CM’s letter, bank documents were handed over to the victims’ family members.
Many are likely to be discharged from hospital on Tuesday and they will be shifted to a safe place, he said. As promised, every family member in the five villages will be paid Rs 10,000 each. Village volunteers will hand over the compensation at their doorsteps.
He said an extensive disinfection drive was taken up in RR Venkatapuram and the four other affected villages since morning. All people will be allowed to go to their homes after 4 pm. The Chief Minister was contemplating bringing out a new industrial safety policy, he added.
Meanwhile, the entire affected area was fortified by deploying a large number of police. No one, including the media, was allowed. On the directions of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, five ministers decided to sleep in the five villages to boost the morale of the victims. The ministers visited the villages and reviewed the situation there.
Earlier, GVMC commissioner G Srijana also visited Venkatapuram and Padmanabham to inspect the sanitization drive. Fumigation was done at every house and all withered plants were removed from the houses. As many as 500 sanitation staff were deployed and sanitization drive was taken up as per the advice of experts, Botcha Satyanarayana said.
Meanwhile, during a video conference with the Chief Minister, Visakhapatnam district collector V Vinay Chand said thirteen thousand tonnes of styrene monomer left unused in five storage tanks belonging to LG Polymers is being sent back to the parent company in South Korea in two different vessels. 8000 tonnes is being sent in one vessel and the remaining 5000 in another vessel. The process of shipment will be completed in 4-5 days, he said.
Explaining the situation at the industrial plant located in RR Venkatapuram, where styrene gas leakage claimed 12 lives and affected several hundreds of people last Thursday, the district collector said the gas in the storage tank, where the leakage took place, is now 100 percent polymerized.
The Chief Minister directed officials to conduct inspections of industries not just in Visakhapatnam but across the state and ensure all protocols are being followed. He further directed the officials to come out with plans and procedures for shifting hazardous industries to least populated areas while taking into consideration the recommendations made by the committee constituted by the Centre in the wake of the gas leak.
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