NDA govt firms up action plan to make industries accident-free

Visakhapatnam: For the past five years, 119 industrial accidents occurred in undivided Visakhapatnam. Of them, 120 people lost their lives.

The count of accidents and casualties indicates how the safety aspect in industries has largely been neglected by the management. The negligence of the management as well as officials concerned is costing the lives of the employees and workers dearly.

The reactor blast occurred on August 21 at Escientia Advanced Sciences Pvt Ltd at Atchutapuram Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Anakapalli district is one of the biggest accidents ever happened in the undivided Visakhapatnam.

After Kolkata trainee doctor’s gruesome rape and murder case that brought safety at medical colleges and hospitals to the limelight, considering concrete measures at workplace has now become a prime concern. Committees have been formed by AIIMS Delhi to analyse and assess the safety concerns of doctors on the campus.

Back in Andhra Pradesh, given the frequency of industrial accidents that continue to recur, it calls for a serious action so that the gruesome accident that took place at Escientia, claiming 17 lives, injuring and hospitalising several others, would not be repeated in future.

In addition to the management of the companies, the responsibility of providing a safe work environment rests on the state government and officials concerned as well. Emphasising on the safety aspect, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu mentioned that there is no compromise on carrying out safety audits. “Even as they were not given priority in the past five years, concrete steps will be taken to ensure safety of the employees at the workplace,” the CM said during his visit to Visakhapatnam. A high level committee will be constituted to probe into every detail of the reactor blast and action will be taken based on the report submitted.

Every time an industrial accident happens, a committee would be formed to investigate the incident which would be submitted to the state government that comes forward to lend compensation to the victims.

However, the seriousness to take steps to avoid such accidents from happening barely goes beyond extending financial assistance to the victims plus the treatment for their recovery.

With the intensity of the recent reactor blast at SEZ, both people and the state government intend to put an end to this trend and place safety as top gear to achieve zero industrial accidents.

The Chief Minister too expressed that the state government is keen on streamlining the system that went haywire in the past five years. Keeping this as a target, the CM assured that lapses in both the industries and departments would be identified and corrective measures would be taken to rectify them.Those working in various companies along with their families express hope that change would happen at least now and the NDA government would work towards making the industries accident-free.