Andhra Pradesh’s pharma industry is now in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. A series of major mishaps in the Atchutapuram Pharma Special Economic Zone in the Anakapalli district raises the question of the seriousness of the Government in ensuring the safety of workers.

The two accidents in the SEZ in the last three days, in the unit of  Synergene Active Ingredients in the wee hours of Friday and Escientia Advanced Science Pvt Ltd company’s plant on Tuesday resulted in 17 deaths and 39 injuries.

The incidents also bring back the tragic memory of a leak of styrene vapour from a chemical plant of LG Polymers India Private Ltd (LGPI), an arm of South Korea’s LG Chem, in Visakhapatnam in May 2020 which claimed 11 lives and led to the hospitalisation of hundreds of people.

The government needs to go beyond announcing compensation to the victims and needs to buckle up to the prevent recurrence of the incidents. 

Surprisingly, the recommendations of an expert panel headed by the present NK Prasad (present Chief Secretary of AP) Committee constituted by the then Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in the wake of the LG Polymers Gas Leak disaster remained only on paper for almost three years.

The committee suggested the setting up of factory safety boards at the Central and State levels to overhaul the factory safety regulatory system in the country. These would be on the lines of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards (CPCB and SPCB).

It also mooted key changes in the factory safety regulatory system to cover all factory safety norms which are under various departments and various ministries such as the Factories Act, Indian Boiler Act, Explosives Act, the Petroleum Act, etc.

Working with different departments concerned with factory laws in isolation without coordination, institutional weakness in the form of understaffing and lack of powers to bring those who violate norms were some of the challenges highlighted by the committee in its comprehensive report. 

Standardisation of norms for different types of industrial units is also important to equip the supervisory staff with the necessary technical know-how to take up proper factory inspections.

A special investigation wing to probe all major industrial accidents should also be set up on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force, the NK Prasad Panel suggested. 

The present practice of having a state advisory board on industrial safety can be done away with by creating factory regulators equipped with proper authority.

BLAME GAME

There is no rational explanation why the previous YSRCP government, which was in power till it lost its mandate in the general elections in May this year, failed to implement the recommendations of the panel it constituted. Not surprisingly, the political blame game started already. 

While Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged 120 lives were lost in the last years of the previous government, the YSR Congress finds fault with the new NDA Government.

However, it is high time to stay away from politics and implement NK Prasad panel suggestions. The fact that he is now the Chief Secretary should move things faster, hopefully. 

The Chief Minister also announced that all enforcement agencies concerned with the safety of the factories will be brought under one umbrella to ensure proper vigil. This should be hastened. 

There are a large number of poor and vulnerable migrant workers from Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar who are now working in the pharma cluster in Andhra Pradesh. It is high time that the Government will act now to ensure their safety.