Tragic Industrial Accidents Claim Lives in Visakhapatnam's Pharma City

Visakhapatnam: Two persons were killed and six others sustained serious injuries in two separate industrial accidents at Visakha Pharmacity Limited (VPL), located at Parawada in Anakapalle district on Saturday night. In the first incident at Apitoria Pharma Private Limited, 30-year-old Alla Govind (Technician) died and Boddu Narendra (Assistant Maintenance) suffered injuries in an explosion while they were conducting leak testing by applying Nitrogen.

Joint chief inspector of factories, J Siva Shankar Reddy said that technicians observed that vacuum was not stabilized before taking it into use in the B-block Module-3 at Apitoria Pharma Private Limited. The maintenance department started leak testing by applying Nitrogen with pressure and subsequently an explosion took place on Saturday night. The door of the Vacuum Tray Dryer (VTD) was opened and hit Govind and Narendra. The duo suffered injuries in the incident. Govind succumbed to injuries while he was being shifted to a hospital and Narendra, who received injuries on his left eye, was undergoing treatment, Siva Shankar added.

The preliminary investigation into the incident revealed that the applied pressure might have exceeded the safe limit, resulting in the door VTD getting detached.

In another incident at Alkali Metals Ltd, 32-year-old Chandaka Ramana (chemist) died and five others fell sick after they inhaled methyl nitrate gas in the wee hours on Sunday. The gas, nitrate, was reported to have leaked from a tank. The five employees fell unconscious after they inhaled the gas, A Srinivasa Rao is availing treatment at KIMS hospital, Sheelanagar, where his condition is said to be critical. The condition of the remaining four persons is said to be out of danger.

Anakapalli district committee president of CPI(M) K Lokaamdham demanded a compensation of Rs one crore to each of the two workers killed in the accident and also compensation to the injured workers apart from providing better treatment.

Lokanadham demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the series of accidents that have been taking place in the pharma city and SEZs.

He said special committees were appointed on safety norms but the reports were never made public and so far no action was taken against any management.