Scores of furious villagers gathered outside the LG Polymers at TT RR Venkatapuram in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam on Saturday demanding immediate closure of the plant. Some of the youth even attempted to barge into the plant as part of the agitation.
Stressing that their lives were ruined completely, the protestors even put two dead bodies in front of the building.
The bodies were being brought to the village for cremation from the KGH mortuary after post-mortem. However, the ambulances were stopped by the angry villagers in front of the plant gate and the bodies were laid on the road.
The villagers started the agitation even as state Director General of Police DG Sawang was inspecting the vapour leak spot and talking to the management on the measures taken to restore normalcy in the area.
On Thursday, 11 people were killed while over 1000 were hospitalised after gas leakage from the LG Polymers chemicals plant in the village. The styrene gas quickly spread to villages in a five-kilometre radius. The leak took place around 2.30 am on Thursday.
Within hours of the matter being reported, Prime Minister Modi had called a meeting of National Disaster Management Authority officials at his residence to hold discussions over the incident with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in attendance.
Meanwhile, taking note of the matter, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to LG Polymers, Union Environment Ministry, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and others. It has also directed the company to deposit an initial amount of Rs 50 crore as compensation for the damages.
Earlier, the Centre for Wildlife and Environmental Litigation Foundation approached the NGT seeking constitution of a high-level committee, comprising of judges and officers, not below the rank of Joint Secretary, to enquire into Vizag gas leak incident and direct the state to ensure the protection and security of the residents of the surrounding area.
