Joint Collector to probe in the fire at pharma unit

Thursday, May 4, 2017 
Visakhapatnam

HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao has on Thursday asked the Joint Collector G.Srijana to probe into the fire that occurred at Azico Biophore killing three workers on Tuesday and submit a report within a week.

He said that as per the direction of the Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, a meeting of Ministers of Industries, Environment and Forests would be convened soon to review safety system. Of the 1,500 factories, 92 were identified as high risk in the district of which 66 are pharma industries, he said.

Besides Joint Collector, Anakapalle MP M.Srinivasa Rao, Pendurti MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murty, ACP A.S.Khan, JNPC CEO P.P.Lal Krishna and others were present.

It may be recalled that two workers died and four others injured seriously in a fire accident at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City at Parawada on Tuesday. The injured were rushed to hospitals. It may be mentioned here that the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board had suspended the licence of Azico Biophore and four other units at JNPC in October, 2016 for not adhering to norms on waste disposal. After ensuring compliance of norms, the order was revoked a few months later, sources in the board said Joint Inspector of Factories D.Chandrasekhar Varma.

Chemist Siva Kumar (24) from Gopalapatnam and helper Nageswar Rao (30) from Anakapalle, M Appala Naidu (31), a company executive from Pakki in Vizianagaram district, G Srinivasa Rao (40) from Kasimkota and J Manikanta (22) fromVizianagaram who were at work sustained grievous burns. Siva Kumar and Nageswar Rao were rushed to the King George Hospital (KGH) where they died undergoing treatment. The rest were admitted to Care Hospital.