More than 200 employees had to be hospitalized; Officials say there is little chance of gas spilling from neighboring factories
More than 200 employees had to be hospitalized; Officials say there is little chance of gas spilling from neighboring factories
What exactly happened at Quantum Seeds, a unit of Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC), a day after over 200 female employees, some of whom were pregnant, allegedly fell ill due to some kind of toxic gas. The suspense on this continued on Saturday. ), at Achutapuram in Anakapalli district on Friday.
The staff had complained of nausea, burning eyes, abdominal pain and diarrhea and were admitted to various hospitals.
Though most of them were discharged after some basic treatment, the real cause of the disease was not yet clear.
Addressing the media on Saturday, BIAC’s India partner P. Doraswamy maintained the stand taken on Friday that any gas leaked from the neighboring chemical factory would have leaked into the seed unit.
‘No sign of leak’
However, officials from the Factory Department and the AP Pollution Control Board say that “such a possibility is very low.” Both the agencies confirmed that they did not find any trace of gas leak in the chemical factories.
“The air route from the chemical factories to the seed unit is about 1.5 km. If there was a gas leak, many workers of the chemical factory and its surroundings would also be affected. But we are still probing,” said a senior factory department official.
other possibilities
The second aspect is being looked into by a four-member committee constituted by the officials and the district collector whether there has been leakage of freon from the air conditioning unit in Quantum Seeds.
“Although freon is not toxic, it has some odor and may cause some illness. But it is one of the possibilities we are looking into.”
It is learned that the officials are also keeping an eye on the angle of food poisoning, as it has been learned that the workers take food in the factory canteen.
“Samples have been collected for testing,” the officials said. Hindu,
Meanwhile, Yellamanchili MLA UV Ramanmurthy Raju (Kanna Babu) said that he had asked the company management to shut down the unit till the committee submits its report on the true cause of the incident.
“I have also asked them to ensure that such incidents do not recur and take steps to instil confidence among the workers as they are very scared,” he said.
TDP charge
TDP women’s wing president V. Anita, who visited the site and NTR hospital, where some of the women were being treated, said a proper inquiry should be conducted by an independent body.
This was the biggest industrial accident after the styrene monomer vapor leak at LG Polymers in 2020, she said, and alleged that the government had failed to bring the wrong industries in line despite clear violations of all safety norms.
The Chief Minister had given complete relaxation to the management of LG Polymers. He added that if they had taken effective steps, other industries would have followed the safety standards.
Shri Doraswamy also informed that steps have been taken to provide proper treatment to all the employees.