As the state ministers handed over of Rs 1 crore compensation cheques to the kin of deceased in the gas leak, senior TDP leader Bonda Uma slammed the Jagan government of trying to wash off the blood on its hands by throwing crumbs at the gas leak victims.
On Monday, ministers Avanthi Nani, Botsa Satyanarayana and Kanna Babu visted the families of eight people who lost their lives in the gas leak and handed over the cheques.
Praying that such a disaster never occurs again in Vizag or anywhere in the world, Bonda Uma said the government instead of arresting the company’s officials tried to protect them by providing police protection to them when the residents of R R Venktapuram protested outside LG Polymers. “While the police arrested the gas leak victims when they protested outside LG Polymers, not a single arrest was made against the company’s officials. This only goes to show that the government was in collusion with the company’s officials. Why didn’t the government arrest even a single company official. The government thinks it can absolve itself by merely paying Rs 1 crore compensation.”
The Jagan government, instead of helping the gas leak victims and treat them with respect, had arrested them when they tried to protest outside LG Polymers demanding relocation of the factory. The police had even resorted to lathi-charge to mitigate the situation.
The toxic gas leak has left 12 dead, including two minors, and hundreds of people were hospitalized. Hundreds of people fell like a pack of cards, some choked while hailing the fumes emitted from LG Polymers, children and women were found unconscious on the pavements. Anger simmered on the streets of R R Venkatapuram with protesting residents demanding justice to the gas leak victims. Hundreds of residents gathered outside LP Polymers with bodies of those who died in the gas leak to protest against the government’s inaction over relocation of LG Polymers. The gas leak victims demanded that the company has to be shifted, as they now have to live with an ever present danger.
Bonda Uma asked why the government had failed to make any announcement on relocating the plant from R R Venkatapuram as per the demand of the residents. “The Chief Minister met the company’s officials at Vizag airport’s VIP lounge. He did not visit the affected villages to inquire about their well being. The company’s officials have so far not met the residents. LG Polymers is a chemical plant and it cannot be located in the midst of a densely populated habitation,” Bonda Uma said.
Earlier, former MLA Kinjarapu Atchannaidu who met the families of gas victims to console them demanded that LG Polymer announce Rs 10 crore to each of the families who lost their loved ones in the toxic gas leak.
However, Tourism Minister Avanthi Srinivas insulted the gas leak victims by underming the protest. In a recent statement, Avanthi Srinivas said the TDP was trying to mudsling the government by forcing the residents to protest outside LG Polymers with the bodies of the dead. “Desist from instigating people,” he said. He tried to undermine the protest and politicize it by making most insensitive remarks saying the protest outside the LG Polymers by angry residents was orchestrated by “TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and company”. Further, he stated that the motive behind orchestrating such a protest was to hurt the ‘brand image’ of Visakhapatnam.
