Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao on Monday expressed serious concern over frequent industrial accidents and directed the district authorities to conduct a safety audit of all the industries.
He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day international conference on effects of emissions and effluents on the environment organised by Andhra University College of Engineering (autonomous) here at Y.V.S. Murthy Auditorium.
Mr. Rao said major accidents that claimed several lives at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, HPCL Visakh Refinery and the recent GAIL pipeline burst at Nagaram were a matter of concern for everyone.
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“Visakhapatnam is sitting on a power keg due to location of several industries. There is no place for complacency in maintaining our vigil. Hence, safety culture should be spread in every workplace,” he said.
Underlining the need to take steps to maintain ecological balance, he said the government was not in favour of destructive development. “We need industries but it should be sustainable. Safety is non-negotiable and funding should not be a criterion in preventing loss to the human beings as well as to the environment,” he said.
Mr. Rao also had a word of praise for VSP management saying the temperature in the plant despite use of blast furnaces was less than the city’s temperature because of massive greenery at Ukkunagaram township.
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The Minister said they would undertake plantation in schools and opined that the authorities should not give approval for construction without any provision to take up plantation.
AUCE Principal Ch.V. Ramachandra Murthy presided. Local organising committee chairman P.S. Avadhani, AU Vice-Chancellor G.S.N. Raju, his counterparts in JNTU-K and Adikavi Nannaya University Tulasi Ram Das and P. Victor George, and RINL Director (Projects) P.C. Mohapatra spoke.