NGT: the committee can submit its report within three months by e-mail (File)
New Delhi:
The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday ordered two companies to pay interim compensation within two weeks to victims of separate gas leak incidents in Andhra Pradesh.
In one case, two workers were killed and four hospitalized after the benzimidazole leak at the Sainor Life Sciences factory in the Parwada region of Visakhapatnam.
In the second incident, an ammonia gas leak accident at Nandyal in the Kurnool district of SPY Agro Industries on June 26 resulted in the death of one person and the injury of three workers.
A bench led by the president of the NGT, judge Adarsh Kumar Goel, noted that if compensation of Rs 35 lakh each was granted for the two victims in the first case, no compensation has been paid to the injured already identified.
“This compensation must be paid by the Occupier company. We fix a provisional compensation at Rs 5 lakh for each of the four injured. An amount of Rs 20 lakh must be deposited with the magistrate of the district of Visakhapatnam within two weeks from today, failing which the amount will be recovered by the district magistrate using coercive means, “said the bench.
The district magistrate can pay the amount directly to the injured by transferring it to their bank accounts.
He also set up a committee composed of representatives of the Central Pollution Control Commission, the National Pollution Control Commission, the district magistrate, Visakhapatnam, V Rama Chandra Murthy, Andhra University , Vizag and Pulipati King, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Andhra, Vizag, to assess the final compensation. to victims and for the restoration of the environment and suggestions for precautions to come.
The committee can present its report within three months by e-mail and it can visit the site, examine the point of view of management, workers or any other stakeholder, the court said.
In the second incident, the green sign ordered Spy Agro to deposit 15 lakh rupees as interim compensation for the heirs of the victim and 5 lakh rupees each for the injured to the Kurnool district magistrate within two weeks of today, if no compensation has so far been paid or compensation less than this amount has been paid.
“In case of failure, the district magistrate can recover the amount by coercive measures. The amount can be paid to the heirs of the deceased and the injured by direct transfer to their account,” said the bank.
He also asked the committee to investigate this matter and present its report.
In a similar incident, a leak of styrene that occurred on May 7 in a chemical factory belonging to a South Korean company – LG Polymers India Pvt Ltd, village of R.R. Venkatpuram, Pendurthy Mandal, Vishakhapatnam – killed 11 people.
