Multiple probes ordered into Laurus Labs accident
Following protests by workers, the management agreed to give an ex gratia of Rs 75 lakh to the next of kin of two permanent employees and Rs 45 lakh to two contract workers
image for illustrative purpose
The incident, killing four and critically injuring another, is believed to have occurred while cleaning a reactor leading to flash fire. Due to negligence and failure to conduct social audit on safety apparatus have led to frequent industrial accidents mainly at JNPC
Visakhapatnam: Tension grips the industrial areas of North Andhra with another accident occurring at Laurus Labs located at the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) at Parawada, about 40 km from here, killing four and critically injuring another as the authorities ordered multiple enquiries to find out the cause that triggered the incident.
Besides the police, the district administration, fire and factory departments and directorate of broiler have ordered separate probe into the fatal incident.
Following protests by workers and unions, the management agreed to give an ex gratia of Rs 75 lakh to the next of kin of two permanent employees and Rs 45 lakh to two contract workers who lost their lives in the fire accident that took place at the manufacturing block of the Laurus Labs while cleaning. The incident is believed to have occurred while cleaning a reactor leading to flash fire. The condition of another injured employee was stated to be very critical.
CPI (M) Anakapalli district secretary K Loknadham told Bizz Buzz that due to negligence and failure to conduct social audit on safety apparatus have led to frequent industrial accidents mainly at JNPC and sought ex gratia of Rs 1 crore each the deceased family's dependents. He also sought a permanent job to the dependents.
While there were a couple of gas leak incidents that created panic in the units of Brandix India Apparel City near JNPC in the recent past, the death of 11 people in the leakage of poisonous gas from LP Polymers in the city in May, 2020 is fresh in memory of the people of Visakhapatnam.
Laurus Labs Limited, a listed company, in a disclosure made under Section 30 SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 informed the BSE and the NSE on Tuesday that "we regret to inform you that on the evening of 26th December, 2022, flash fire occurred in one of the rooms in one manufacturing block of our API plant (Unit 3) at JNPC, Parawada. The operations in other production blocks are running normally."
"Further, we deeply regret to inform that two regular employees and two contract employees have lost their lives after reaching the hospital. One regular employee is in hospital and undergoing treatment. We extend our full support to the families. The company launched investigation into the incident. The company estimates that no material impact on the operations," Company Secretary for Laurus Labs Limited G Venkateswar Reddy said.
Meanwhile, Minister for Industries and Commerce Gudivada Amarnath said they would review the safety mechanism at various hazardous industries in the region and take stringent action against those found guilty for compromising on maintaining safety and emission parameters.
