After Vizag Gas Leak, company LG Polymers evacuating 13,000 tonnes Styrene to South Korea

Days after its leaked vapour killed 11 people, about 13,000 tonnes of styrene from the LG Polymers plant at RR Venkatapuram near Visakhapatnam is being shipped back to the company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. Besides in one other tank inside the plant, the company had stored styrene, imported from Singapore, in two tanks in the Visakhapatnam Port.

The Andhra Pradesh government authorities took up the issue with the Ministry of Shipping and arranged a special container to send the chemical back to Seoul.

"We are shipping about 8,000 tonnes of styrene by a container vessel on Monday and another will carry the remaining 5,000 in the next couple of days," Visakhapatnam district Collector V Vinay Chand said.

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The leftover styrene in the tank inside the plant, from where the vapour leak occurred, had solidified and the temperature came down to 73 degrees Celsius. There had been a vociferous demand from people of Venkatapuram and surrounding villages that the plant be completely shut down as it posed a threat to their lives.

The vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant in the wee hours of May 7 caused the death of 11 people. On Saturday, irate villagers staged a protest in front of the plant, with bodies of the deceased, demanding that it be closed down forthwith. Meanwhile, the situation at RR Venkatapuram and surrounding villages was fully under control and villagers would be allowed to return from Monday evening.

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Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who reviewed the situation with ministers and officials through videoconference, directed the ministers to spend the night in each of the five affected villages to instill confidence in the people. On the other hand, ministers Botsa Satyanarayana and K Kanna Babu handed over Rs one crore each as ex-gratia to the families of five people killed in the vapour leak tragedy.

So far the legal heirs of only these five victims were identified and the remaining too would be paid the ex-gratia once the process was completed, the ministers said.

"The other families are currently far away from the city. Once they return, we will complete the formalities," the ministers added.

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, directed the authorities to open unencumbered accounts in banks  nd pay Rs 10,000 as financial aid to each of the villagers affected by the vapour leak. He asked them to complete the process in the next three days. Jagan directed that the list of beneficiaries be displayed in the respective village secretariats to ensure transparency. He also wanted clinics to be opened in these villages to ensure proper medicare to the people.