(Image source from: livemint.com)

On Saturday, LG polymers expressed the reason for the Vizag incident. An FIR was filed against them because it happened due to vapor leaking from a gas storage tank.

According to initial reports, this incident had taken place due to maintenance failures, operating errors, and improper storage of the toxic styrene gas.

Unfortunately, this toxic gas leakage killed 11 people. In the past, a similar situation had taken place at Bhopal in the year 1984.

In a Statement, LG Polymers said, “Our initial investigations suggest that the cause of the incident is prima facie by the leaking vapor from the Styrene Monomer (SM) storage tank near the GPPS (General Purpose Poly Styrene) factory on Thursday, May 7."

As a safety measure, Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy has thoughts of closing the facility as factories handling hazardous chemicals should not be located near densely populated areas and should be zoned off.

The gas leaked was Styrene. This is an important chemical which is used in making make plastics, paints, synthetic rubber, insulation, fibreglass, pipes, automobile parts, food containers and disposal cups.

The areas affected were RR Venkatapuram village, Gopalapatnam Mandal in Visakhpatnam district, surrounding villages of Narava, B.C Colony, Bapuji Nagar, Kampalapalem and Krishna Nagar.

The National Green Tribunal formed a fact-finding panel and issued notices that ordered the factory to deposit ₹50 crore for the damage done.

The Government has formed a committee that can think of precautionary measures to be taken.

By Neha Makhija