— by E A S Sarma — June 30, 2020

To

Shri Neerabh Kumar Prasad
Spl CS (Environment & Forests)
Govt of AP

Dear Shri Prasad,

I write this close on the heels of my letter dated 29-6-2020 about one more ghastly gas leak accident, this time, in the infamous Pharmacity of Parawada in Visakhapatnam district.

The accident took place at the Pharmacity unit of Sainor Life Sciences Pvt Ltd (https://www.andhrajyothy.com/telugunews/vishakapatnam-2020063007381389). Two persons died and four critically injured.

At the same unit, there was a similar accident that took place on 28-9-2015 in which two persons died and four similarly injured.

Incidentally, there have been 25 serious industrial accidents in Pharmacity since 2013 in which 23 persons lost their lives and 73 seriously injured.

Most of these units are also highly polluting and have been found to be infringing the environment protection laws and regulations.

In any civilised country, by now, some senior officers of the regulatory authorities like APPCB and Inspectorate of Factories would have been suspended, removed and prosecuted for abetting such accidents. By now, the promoters of the units would have found themselves in jail. However, in AP and elsewhere, the authorities seem to be on the side of the promoters and the latter seem to be fully aware of it. The State Govt should find out as to how the police had closed the case against Sainor promoters in 2015-16. By soft pedalling these cases, in my view, the authorities have also become liable to action.

May I request you to order an investigation into whether the authorities had looked into the reasons for the past 24 accidents in Pharmacity, whether they had taken deterrent action against the promoters and the action taken by the State govt against APPCB and Inspectorate of Factories.

If no action is taken, I am sure that AP will soon become a “State of fatal industrial accidents”.

Regards,

Yours sincerely,

E A S Sarma
Visakhapatnam
30-6-2020