Hold LG Polymers culpable, hold judicial enquiry: CPI(M) on Vizag gas leak

The CPI(M) on Thursday demanded a judicial enquiry into the "deadly" gas leak in Visakhapatnam to identify and punish the guilty, saying it was a "clear case of criminal negligence" by the company management.

In a statement, the party's Polit Bureau said it was aghast at the gas leak that took place early morning and it needed to properly investigated if all the precautionary measures were taken when the closed plant was restarted after the lockdown restrictions were eased.

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"People were seen running from their houses and the deaths occurred primarily due to asphyxiation. It is reported that the district authorities failed to intervene in time to take the affected people for treatment," it said.

Demanding a judicial enquiry in a time-bound manner, it said the LG Polymers management must be held culpable and actions must be taken in accordance with the law.

Separately, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said the leakage took place while the 5000 tonne-capacity tanker was being filled with chemicals in preparation to start the factory operations shortly.

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"The leakage took place owing to utter neglect and failure on the part of the company to ensure basic preventive safety as per Standard Operative Procedures (SOP) on chemical handling, with the gas spreading fast to the adjoining areas. The LG Polymer Plant, having its plant located in the midst of thickly populated areas cannot evade its responsibility to ensure that the machinery and chemical/gas-storage facilities are properly maintained even during shutdown/lockdown," it said.

The CITU alleged that reports suggested that two huge tankers with chemicals were left unattended during the lockdown by the company management and the incident of gas leakage was "nothing but a reflection of criminal negligence" on the part of the company "concerned only of minimising cost to maximise profit".

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It also said the incident showed that the central and state governments have not drawn any lessons from the Bhopal Gas tragedy decades back owing to such criminal default on the part of Union Carbide.

"The company should be held responsible and liable for this disastrous gas-leakage and must be prosecuted. The company also must be made to pay not less than Rs 50 lakh as compensation to the families of those who lost their lives; adequate compensation must also be paid to all the other affected people; the Company also must be made to bear the entire expenditure for medical treatment of all those affected by the gas leakage," the CITU added.