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EDITOR: NAGARAJA.M.R ....
VOL.22 .. .ISSUE...53……02/07/2026
Lessons learnt by government ?
Visakhapatnam Accident: Time For Strict Action
— by E A S Sarma
To
Shri C K Mishra
Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC)
Govt of India
Dear Shri Mishra,
You are aware of the ghastly gas leak accident that took place at LG Polymers unit near Visakhapatnam in the early hours of 7-5-2020. Several persons in the vicinity of the accident site could not escape to safe places and got asphyxiated to death.
Several others had to be hospitalised for serious health problems associated with their lungs, eyes, nose, skin etc. The impact of the toxic gases that got released from the accident site extended upto 5-10km from it. The disease burden caused by the accident will stay on for decades to come. In short, irrespective of the laws, the rules and the procedures in force, such an accident should shake the conscience of the nation and prompt those in authority to introspect and self-correct.
Initial reports suggest that the gases released in the accident predominantly comprise Styrene.
According to a study conducted by IIT, Mumbai (“Vizag gas leak: Styrene levels 2,500 times more on May 8: CSE Analysis” reported at
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/tab=wm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgxwHNMTsTdtrpdGPcnSWPrcFQqrM),
Styrene levels in the air at several locations around the accident site shot up by more than 2,500 times compared to the safety threshold. If this were to be taken as an accurate estimate, exposure to this of the population residing within 5-10km of the site would have resulted in both short-term and long-term disease burdens. It would result in ailments associated with the lungs, the kidneys, the eyes and so on.
Styrene is known to cause cancer.
Considering the known toxicity of Styrene, it would also result in stunting the affected children’s mental abilities. All these social costs far outweigh the perceived benefits of giving a red carpet treatment such industrial activity.
Your Ministry cannot afford to assume the role of a passive onlooker in the case of the accident at LG Polymers or any other similar accident. You may have unwittingly or otherwise breached the Constitutional obligation of the State to protect the human rights of the citizens by facilitating ex post facto approvals for such potentially dangerous industrial units to operate.
Article 48A of the Constitution requires your Ministry as well as the State to protect the environment. Article 21 obligates the government to protect the citizen’s right to life. Article 39 directs the government to ensure the citizen’s good health.
In pursuance of Article 48A, your Ministry had brought in the Environment (Protection) Act [EPA] and issued several rules and notifications from time to time. The central theme of this statutory framework is to ensure that no industrial project is undertaken without understanding its adverse impact on the environment, without understanding its implications for the people’s health and without taking into confidence those likely to be affected.
That is the rationale underlying the concept of prior Environment Clearance (EC) being obtained by a project proponent. If an industrial project gets implemented without an environmental impact appraisal and without public consultation and if your Ministry becomes a rubber stamp to “regularise” such projects, it will defeat the purpose of Article 48A and EPA.
Over the years, in the absence of a firm commitment to the letter and the spirit of Article 48A, I am afraid that your Ministry has gradually transformed itself from an independent regulatory authority into a an agency that provides a regulatory garb to thousands of hazardous industries and polluting industries that endanger the people’s lives, damage the environment and affect the people’s health.
The LG Polymers accident represents the tip of the iceberg of what is going happen in the case of several thousands of industrial units handling hazardous chemicals, not subject to any worthwhile regulatory scrutiny, beyond public accountability and operating without any meaningful oversight and monitoring.
The notifications issued by your Ministry such as SO 804(E) dated 14-3-2017 and SO 1030(E) dated 8-3-2018 that granted the largesse of ex post facto approvals “condoned” many errant units that preempted a stringent technical scrutiny, avoided a strict environment impact appraisal procedure and escaped a public consultation process. Had your Ministry respected the letter and the spirit of Article 48A of the Constitution and respected the Precautionary Principle in environmental jurisprudence, ghastly accidents such the one that disrupted the lives of lakhs of people around the industrial unit of LG Polymers would not take place.
We seem to have learnt very little from the Bhopal gas tragedy and I doubt whether we will draw any lessons from the latest Visakhapatnam disaster. In the ultimate analysis, it is the people who are forced to pay the price for the extra-ordinary affection displayed by the rules towards the larger businesses.
A time has come when your Ministry can no longer pretend that the changes being made in the environment impact assessment procedures would subserve the public interest.
I refer to the Draft Notification issued by your Ministry in March, 2020 proposing far reaching “simplifications” and paving the way for ex post facto approvals.
In this connection, I have extracted below an observation made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 1-4-2020 in Civil Appeal No. 1526 of 2016
“The concept of an ex post facto EC is in derogation of the fundamental principles of environmental jurisprudence and is an anathema to the EIA notification dated 27 January 1994. It is, as the judgment in Common Cause holds, detrimental to the environment and could lead to irreparable degradation. The reason why a retrospective EC or an ex post facto clearance is alien to environmental jurisprudence is that before the issuance of an EC, the statutory notification warrants a careful application of mind, besides a study into the likely consequences of a proposed activity on the environment. An EC can be issued only after various stages of the decision-making process have been completed.
Requirements such as conducting a public hearing, screening, scoping and appraisal are components of the decision-making process which ensure that the likely impacts of the industrial activity or the expansion of an existing industrial activity are considered in the decision-making calculus. Allowing for an ex post facto clearance would essentially condone the operation of industrial activities without the grant of an EC. In the absence of an EC, there would be no conditions that would safeguard the environment.
Moreover, if the EC was to be ultimately refused, irreparable harm would have been caused to the environment. In either view of the matter, environment law cannot countenance the notion of an ex post facto clearance.
This would be contrary to both the precautionary principle as well as the need for sustainable development “
While an ex post facto approval may enhance the “ease of doing business” as it is fashionable to describe it these days, it is simultaneously encouraging industrial units which are unsafe, which pollute and which damage the people’s heath. I would therefore earnestly request you to revisit the need for issuing the Draft Notification of March, 2020.
instead of diluting the environment laws and procedures, in the public interest, it is necessary to strengthen them and introduce a greater sense of public accountability in environmental regulation.
I understand that there are thousands of industrial units which have escaped environmental scrutiny and are awaiting the munificence of your Ministry to “regularise” their dangerous existence. If you grant ex post facto approval for such units, you will only be paving the way for more and more such units to come up, defying any kind of scrutiny and monitoring. Please move away from the repugnant idea of such approvals and introduce professional systems of prior environmental scrutiny.
I would also request your Ministry to identify all such units that handle hazardous substances and all such units that cause heavy pollution and close then down if they have failed to be in strict compliance with the environmental norms. If you take the public into confidence, it will become easy for you in the process of identifying those units because it is the local communities that bear the brunt of pollution and risk.
I hope you will take immediate action on this.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to GOI
Visakhapatnam
Editorial : Harshal Murdered by Industrial Waste
GOI & SCI must provide justice to the kid Harshal murdered by Industrial Waste in Mysuru. The case has been covered up.
Read :
https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/boy-s-death-by-industrial-waste
3 deaths every day in Industries
- An appeal to Honourable Labour commissioner and Director of Boilers and Factories of Karnataka
RTI request to HONOURABLE Labour Commissioner and Director of Factories Karnataka
Refer RTI request no.
KLABR/R/2023/60081
To my previous RTI requests ALC and DDF didn't give me full information. This action of public servants amounts to cover up of failures by guilty industrialists.
List of industrial accidents involving workman in industries located in mysuru district from 2003 –2023 year wise with name of industry where it occurred.
List of industrial accidents not reported by industries in the above geographic area in the above mentioned time period with name of industry where it occurred.
List of Industrial accidents which happened at M/s RPG Telecom, RPG Cables, Karnataka Telecables Ltd, Concepta Cables Ltd , KEC International Ltd , Sudarshan Telecom , Finecore Cables, Varsha Cables , Deepanjan Cables , KTMS , Automotive Axles Ltd and at construction site of Infosys campus Mysore from 2003 – 2023.
List of action taken by government against above erring companies. If not reasons for it.
Please give us above stated information at the earliest.
Thanks & regards
Nagaraja M R
700 workers died in industrial accidents between 2020-23, Assembly told
by Avinash Nair
During these three years, the government has received 16,770 complaints of exploitation from industrial workers.
For deaths in industrial accidents, the kin of the deceased workers are paid Rs 1 lakh by the Gujarat Labour Welfare Board.
Around 700 workers have died and 213 sustained injuries in the 587 industrial accidents that took place across Gujarat during the last three financial years.
There has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of industrial accidents that took place between 2020-21 and 2022-23, according to the data tabled by the Gujarat government in response to a question asked by Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani during the just-concluded Monsoon Session of the state Assembly.
Compared to 179 industrial accidents that happened across Gujarat in 2020-21, the number rose to 210 by 2022-23.
Read :
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/industrial-accidents-in-gujarat-industrial-workers-death-in-last-3-years-jignesh-mevani-concluded-monsoon-session-8947561/
NHRC notice to Centre, states over workers’ casualty due to factory accidents
The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of a recent media report that revealed three people died each day, on average, between 2017 and 2022 due to accidents in the registered factories of the country
On average, 1,109 deaths and more than 4,000 injuries in registered factories were reported each year, in four years leading up to 2020.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Centre, states and the Union territories to provide detailed reports with respect to the death and injuries of workers due to workplace accidents in factories.
The Commission took suo motu cognizance of a recent report that revealed three people died and 11 were injured each day, on average, between 2017 and 2022 due to accidents in the registered factories of the country.
The report by IndiaSpend cited data from the Union Ministry of Labour & Employment’s Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI).
According to the DGFASLI data, 3,331 deaths were recorded between 2018 and 2020, but only 14 people were imprisoned for offences under the Factories Act of 1948.
The NHRC in a statement said, “The Commission feels that the gravity of the matter, as highlighted in the newspaper article, raises serious concerns about the human rights of the workers in various business enterprises, including factories.”
The Commission has sent notices to the chief secretaries, principal secretaries, and the Department of Labour of all states and Union territories.
It has also sent a notice to the secretary of the Union Ministry of Labour & Employment to submit an action taken report with regard to the implementation of the Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions Code and the measures taken or to be taken for improving the human rights conditions of the factory workers across the country.
The response to the NHRC notice is expected within six weeks.
The NHRC has directed that the reports contain year-wise reports of the chief inspector of Factories taking measures against defaulting factory owners. This will include prosecution action undertaken for the period from 2017 to 2022 in a tabulated form.
“The data collected by DGFASLI from Chief Inspectors of Factories and Directors of Industrial Safety and Health represents that only registered factories have provided the data, whereas 90% of workers in India are employed in the informal sector. Even after two years of passing the new occupational safety and health code, it is yet to be implemented,” the NHRC statement added.
The India Spend report found that out of 363,442 registered factories across the country in 2020, 84% were operational and employed 20.3 million workers, according to the latest available DGFASLI data.
On average, 1,109 deaths and more than 4,000 injuries in registered factories were reported each year, in four years leading up to 2020, as per the DGFASLI data.
Based on data presented by IndiaSpend received in response to an RTI request with Delhi’s labour department on November 11, 2022, Delhi had 13,464 registered factories as of October 2022, and 118 fatalities and injuries had been reported between 2018 and 2022.
The Delhi labour department’s RTI response also noted that the safety of informal and unorganised workers who are not related to factories does not come under the provisions of the Factories Act, of 1948.
Henceforth, data on accidents in such workers were not compiled as per the Delhi labour department.
162 Workers Died in Industrial Accidents in India in 2021
IndustriALL Global Union has blamed the rising deaths on relaxed inspections and licensing by the government.
More than 162 workers died in industrial accidents last year highlighting the soaring cases of accidents in industrial and commercial establishments in recent years.
According to Geneva-based IndustriALL Global Union—which represents more than 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors—an average of seven accidents reported per month in 2021 also resulted in permanent disabilities and severe injuries.
A number of accidents in the first few weeks of this year shows that the worrying trend is “likely to continue,” the union added.
On 1 January, four workers died in an explosion at a fireworks factory in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu.
In less than a week later, six workers were killed and 29 other employees of Vishwaprem Mill, a textile dyeing and printing factory in Surat, Gujarat, had to be hospitalised after inhaling toxic gas from the Sachin creek. On January 11, 20 employees of a fish processing unit were admitted to a private hospital in Mukka, Karnataka, following another chemical leak.
The incidents—cited by IndustriALL in its Friday’s statement—along with last year’s concerning figures, suggest that industrial accidents continue to remain a constant feature of working life in India, the federation said.
Giving possible reasons for the prevailing dangerous situation for workers at factories, the union lamented: “In the last five years, the government has relaxed inspections and licensing to allow self-certification and has exempted some companies from reporting on health and safety to ease business and support small enterprise. Low investment in health and safety, old and decrepit machinery and a lack of training for operating machinery [also] adds to the danger to workers.”
Besides, the availability of health and safety inspectors is low in comparison to the density of factories in India, where effective implementation of occupational safety standards has been a long pending demand of unions and workers, IndustriALL added.
“We are saddened and outraged by these accidents and this clearly shows serious lapses in the safety measures. We demand a high-level judiciary inquiry looking into these frequent accidents, a strict inspection of factories and mines in coordination with workers’ representatives, health and safety laws must be strengthened and implemented in true spirit and complete abolition of the contract system,” G Sanjeeva Reddy, executive committee member, IndustriALL, said.
Kemal Ozkan, assistant general secretary, IndustriALL urged the government “to urgently review the existing safety laws and rules in the country and develop an integrated action plan with the help of the trade unions to ensure that workplaces are safe and fire-proof, and not a death trap”.
Last year, the Union labour ministry informed Parliament that, at least, 6,500 employees died on duty at factories, ports, mines, and construction sites in the last five years with over 80% of the fatalities reported in factory settings between 2014 and 2018. Factory deaths rose by 20% between 2017 and 2018.
The major reasons for these ‘occupational deaths’ include, among others, explosion, fire, prime movers, machinery moved by mechanical powers, accident due to motor vehicles at construction site and electrocution, the ministry had said. A significant number of such deaths were reported from the top industrialised states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the data further revealed.
Much like union leaders, labour experts—who contend that the official figures are often underreported—have argued for long that the rise in industrial accidents is correlated to the dilution of industrial labour and safety regulations that the Central and the state governments have undertaken over the years under the garb of boosting the country’s rank in the World Bank’s global index of Ease of Doing Business.
“With the scrapping of mandatory government oversight of safety regulations, no mystery, industrial and fire-related accidents have shot up. The labour reforms have seemingly rewarded India’s working poor with greater workplace insecurity for helping India climb the ladder of global best practices,” R Nagaraj, visiting professor, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, wrote last year.
While marking the 37th Anniversary of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy o December 3, 2021, V Ramana Dhara, former member of the International Medical Commission on Bhopal, also flagged the lack of political expediency and economic viability as being part of the answer to the pressing questions pertaining to the failure in strengthening the industrial safety standards.
The Narendra Modi government appears to be addressing the issue of industrial accidents through its reform-oriented four Labour Codes, which still have not been implemented since their passage in Parliament in September 2020.
Under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, enacted after amalgamating 13 central labour enactments, the labour ministry set up four expert committees in April last year to review the rules and regulations pertaining to safety, fire, and other working conditions. The committees, comprising officials from both public and private sectors, were supposed to suggest safety standards for factories, dock works, building and other construction works and fire safety.
Sanjay Vadhavkar, executive committee member of IndustriALL, said that the concerns and recommendations of trade unions and workers “were not addressed” by the expert panels. “We demand that the Central and the state governments disclose all the relevant information on accidents, make the investigation reports public and fix responsibility on either employers or concerned government authorities,” he said.
Notably, the labour codes have been criticised by trade unions across the country for diluting labour regulations. Union leaders fear that this will allow employers to further shirk their responsibilities towards workers.
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