Vizag gas leak: Supreme Court permits 30 employees to enter sealed plant premises
By Newsmeter Network Published on 26 May 2020 11:24 AM GMT
Vijayawada: A day after seizure of the LG Polymers India Private Limited premises in Vizag, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed LG Polymers to have limited access to its sealed plant in Andhra Pradesh, where there was styrene vapour leakage and asked the company to provide a list of its 30 personnel who could be allowed the entry.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered sealing of LG Polymers plant and its premises and also barred entry into the plant by all except the expert committees appointed by the government. Based on the High Court orders, the Vizag city police, along with the revenue department officials, seized the plant on Monday.
The High Court had also asked the directors of the firm not to leave the country without its nod. The Vizag police also collected the passports of the few top officials of the LG Polymers as a preventive measure.
The Supreme Court in the proceedings held through video-conferencing on Wednesday, took note of the plea of the LG Polymers that it and its certain employees be granted emergency access as there were toxic polymers inside the plant.
A bench comprising Justices U.U. Lalit, M.M. Shantanagoudar and Vineet Saran, after hearing the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the company, granted limited access to 30 employees to the plant and made it clear that the other contentions can be dealt with by the High Court.
The advocate, Mukul Rohtagi, said that LG Polymers was permitted to give the list of the 30 employees who may be granted access to the plant and that the same list be given to Visakhapatnam district collector V. Vinay Chand.
Earlier, the LG Polymers had come against an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had taken note of the gas leak on its own (suo motu) and had ordered payment of interim compensation of Rs 50 crore.
As many as 12 people, including two children, were killed when styrene vapours leaked from the LG Polymerss plant on May 7, while 500 others fell ill after inhaling the harmful styrene gas.
The apex court, on May 19, had asked LG Polymers-India to approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to raise the issue regarding setting up of multiple committees to probe the May 7 gas leakage from its plant in Visakhapatnam.
