Naidu directs industries to conduct safety audit or face action

Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that failure of the previous government to implement the recommendations for Standard Operations Procedure given by the high powered committee that was constituted after the LG polymer incident had led to laxity among the industries managements. He said in last 5 years 119 accidents took place and 120 people had lost their lives.

Naidu issued a stern warning to all the units, particularly those in the red category to conduct an internal audit and take all necessary safety measures immediately. He said technology is available and all industries should make use of it like installing smoke and smell sensor detectors etc. He said it would not take any time for the government to crack its whip but at the same time it has to balance the fact that industries need to be attracted to the state which has been ruined by previous government and create confidence and atmosphere for rapid industrialisation. At the same time, there can be no compromise on the safety of the workers.

He said a high powered committee would be constituted which will scrutinise all lapses and necessary action against the promoters and officials of concerned departments if lapses were found in performing their duties. He further said he would hold a meeting to study entire data of all the accidents, nature of accidents, reasons for accidents and will streamline the system in next three months.

Naidu also said that necessary infrastructure facilities to handle such incidents like more fire stations, specialised burns hospitals etc will also be examined.

He said the Rs one crore compensation would be given by the management and cheques will be released today.