Vizag gas tragedy should be a wake up call for Telangana State Government and more so for the department of factories to focus on industrial safety issues post lockdown.
Hundreds of polymer, plastic industries, especially in MSME sector are operating in GHMC limits.
Several of them were set in gross violation of the norms and located close to densely populated residential areas.
These factories remain shut for nearly two months due to corona lockdown and set to start operations anytime with the State Government relaxing lockdown norms since May 6.
There is an urgent need for department of factories to swing into action to assess the condition of machinery and safety measures in all the factories to avert Vizag-type tragedies.
The Government should allow factories to reopen only after taking up thorough inspection of factories and after certification by the department of factories that the condition of factories, machinery and safety measures are satisfactory.
Since the lockdown was imposed without any prior notice from March 22 and Government went on extending the lockdown till date without giving any scope for the managements of factories to take adequate safeguards by taking up overhauling, maintenance of machinery, factories, they pose the danger of malfunctioning and leakage of gases if factories are open in haste.
The Telangana High Court in March this year ordered state Government that over 200 polluting plastic units in Hyderabad’s Kattedan industrial area must be shut down, as they were set up in violation of the rules but the Government is yet to act.
The court said that officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Pollution Control Board (PCB) remained ‘mute spectators’ as illegal plastic units mushroomed in the area.
There are several industrial areas in GHMC limits. Though industrial areas were set up decades ago on Hyderabad city outskirts, the rapid expansion of city over the years has made them part of residential zones as several colonies come up around the industrial areas. According to Centre for Science and Environment (CSE),
“This (gas leak incident) shows us that there are ticking bombs out there as the lockdown ends and industries start resuming activities. Therefore, an immediate directive must go to all units to ensure safety while resuming operations -- in case the lockdown continues, these safety precautions must not be negated,”