7 May 2020, will go down as a dark day in the history of Visakhapatnam. What seemed a regular morning out of the dew, turned smoggy. It didn’t take long for a self-embedded city to turn into a point of national interest. While it has been a year since this fatal day, the terrible memories are fresh for a few. The day when the deadly gas leak from the LG Polymers chemical plant in Vizag terrorised people around the city, won’t be forgotten for many years to come.
It was 2:30 AM when PVC gas or Styrene leaked from LG Polymers, near Gopalapatnam in Visakhapatnam. A total of 3 km surrounding this industrial spread, saw catastrophic changes in the oxygen levels. People who usually went out in the early hours to catch fresh air fell on the ground gasping for breath. In no time, others in the area began feeling the same breathlessness and rashes all over the body. WhatsApp videos of casualties on roads and other public areas circulated in all corners of the world.
All were excited of an industrial corridor making it through the doors of Vizag, but none calculated the ill effects that would follow.
The Andhra Pradesh State Government announced a compensation of 1 cr for all those affected by the LG Polymers gas leak in Vizag, the Chief Minister made a visit and the National Green Tribunal (NGT
) declared the South Korean company as absolute liability, which might all seem good for printable headlines, but deep inside the scars still exist. These scars will remain etched and act as a show-cause notice for every industrial corridor initiation.Conversations regarding one year since this gas tragedy still send shivers down the spines of the residents of Gopalapatnam. In a conversation with one of the residents, a happily married husband recollects, “Imagine kissing your family goodnight and not waking up to see them alive.” This is the plight mixed with anger that still runs through these silenced voices.
However, while all catastrophes needed a subdued ending, the NGT directed that a restoration plan should be proposed by a committee comprising of two representatives each from the Union Ministry of Environment and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and three representatives from the Andhra Pradesh State Government, to ensure incidents like the LG Polymers gas leak never repeat in Vizag.
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