Toxic gas supposedly Ammonia leaked from a chemical tank which took the lives of five workers in an aqua food processing unit of the Bhimavaram-based Anand Group of Companies. The incident took place 100 meters from the Ananda Aqua Food Processing unit at Mogalturu village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday morning.
Five out of the eight workers who entered the tank allegedly died of suffocation. The workers regularly clean the sump where the wastes of processed aqua products and the other effluents are released. On the unfortunate day, two workers on their duty entered the sump for cleaning, as they were not returning three others followed them which ended up in being a death trap. The deceased were recognised as Eega Edukondalu, Boddu Rambabu, Jakkasetti Praveen, Thota Srinivasa Rao and Nallam Edukondalu.
Enraged locals pelted stones and damaged the furniture, windowpanes and allegedly assaulted the factory employees.
Chandrababu seeks immediate action
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu enquired about the incident from the West Godavari district Collector Katamaneni Bhaskar and ordered to take up immediate relief measures. The Collector announced ex-gratia of Rs 17 lakh to the victims’ families following a direction from the CM of which 7lakh will be borne by the company.
Jagan demands to shift aqua factories to the sea coast
Opposition leader and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy rushed to Mogalturu, enquired about the mishap and interacted with the kin of the victims. He also went to Narsapur Government Hospital, where the patients are being treated. Jagan demanded that all the aqua factories be shifted to the sea coast. He further said that “This is just a 30-ton capacity factory. Imagine the consequences that the Tundurru unit of 350 tonne capacity unit might face. The company that built the Mogalturu plant is constructing the Tundurru unit,” YS Jagan said.
Pawan Kalyan calls out for environmentalists
Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan, took to twitter and posted a series of messages with #AnandaAquaGasLeak. He demanded stern action against the callous natured management. He recollected that the same incident happened in 2012 in the same factory, but no action was taken.
The actor turned politician requested the environmentalists to come forward and assess the damage and expressed that his party will support them.
He further warned the government to avoid high handed measures as it may result in violence similar to Nandigram. He took a jibe at the TDP leaders and said “it’s up to the wisdom of the leaders of TDP with all their administrative and political experience; how they will stand by people of West Godavari who supported them in winning all the assembly segments”
#AnandaAquaGasLeak pic.twitter.com/i7BwCNu7GH
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 31, 2017
#AnandaAquaGasLeak pic.twitter.com/9MPTyDIWqT
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 31, 2017
#AnandaAquaGasLeak pic.twitter.com/ldjTbRYT7z
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 31, 2017
#AnandaAquaGasLeak pic.twitter.com/0fMdSm14lg
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 31, 2017
#AnandaAquaGasLeak pic.twitter.com/2aiNv0Kptv
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 31, 2017
#AnandaAquaGasleak pic.twitter.com/VOifehPVzk
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 31, 2017
