As yet another industrial mishap left four workers injured within 48 hours of the blast at a pharma unit in Anakapalli, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday slammed the government for negligence alleging that the current regime was more focussed on ‘red book governance.’
The ‘red book’ euphemistically refers to TDP minister Nara Lokesh’s claim that he had chronicled all the atrocities and political vendetta by the then ruling party leaders and bureaucracy when TDP was out of power. Opposition leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been claiming that the TDP was ruling by the ‘Red book Constitution.’ Today Reddy visited the injured workers of Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited where the blast had claimed 17 lives.
Another industrial accident took place at Synergene Active Ingredients Private Limited in JN Pharma City on Thursday night injuring four workers. Asked about the repeated mishaps in industrial units the former chief minister said that after the leak at LG Polymers his government had come up with a detailed government order which asked for self compliance by industrial units followed by monitoring by the state government.
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that the current government did not take initiative to ensure proper monitoring leading to industrial accidents like the one that took place in Anakapalli.
“If the GO that was issued (after LG Polymers) had been exercised where someone was monitoring then these things would not happen… what is happening in the past three-four months after this government has come, they have not focussed on anything. What this government has been focussing on is only the ‘red book’ governance,” said Reddy.
He also claimed that it was his government which had introduced an ex-gratia of Rs one crore which is paid by the state government in case of deaths due to industrial accidents.
In addition the YSRCP leader also accused the government of failing to respond quickly once the accident took place. He alleged that there were no ambulances and the injured were transported to the hospitals in company buses. Moreover, no government official or political leaders had rushed to the spot to handle the situation on ground.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo moto cognizance of the blast at the industrial unit in Anakapalli while expressing concern over violation of safety norms. Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has urged all industries, especially those companies under ‘Red Category’ to immediately take up internal safety audits to prevent such mishaps.