PM Modi holds high-level meeting on Vizag gas leak tragedy

New Delhi [India], May 7 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the steps being taken in response to the gas leak incident in Vishakhapatnam.
The Prime Minister discussed at length the measures being taken for the safety of the affected people as well as for securing the site affected by the disaster, read a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs issued on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Ministers of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and G Kishan Reddy, besides other senior officers.
On receiving the first information about the incident in the morning today, Prime Minister Modi and Shah talked to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and assured all required aid and assistance from the Centre to tackle the situation.
They are monitoring the situation closely and continuously, the statement added.
Immediately after the meeting, the Cabinet Secretary took a detailed review meeting along with the Secretaries of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Information and Broadcasting; Members of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Director General (DG), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF); Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) and Director AIIMS, and other medical experts, to chart out specific steps to support the management of the situation on the ground. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was also present in the meeting.
It was decided that a team from CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) unit of NDRF from Pune, along with an expert team of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, would visit Vishakhapatnam to support the state government in the management of the crisis on the ground, and also to take measures for resolving the short term as also long term medical impact of the leak.
The incident of styrene gas leakage occurred in a chemical plant in the early hours on Thursday at 3 am in RR Venkatapuram village, Gopalapatnam Mandal in Visakhapatnam district. It affected the surrounding villages, namely, Narava, BC Colony, Bapuji Nagar, Kampalapalem, and Krishna Nagar.
Styrene gas, which is toxic in nature, may cause irritation to the skin, eyes and causes respiratory problems and other medical conditions.
The NDRF team with CBRN personnel at Vishakhapatnam was deployed immediately to support the state government and local administration. The NDRF team carried out an immediate evacuation of communities living in the immediate vicinity of the site.
The specialised CBRN unit of NDRF from Pune and NEERI expert team from Nagpur have left for Vishakhapatnam. Besides, DGHS will provide specialised medical advice to medical practitioners on the ground, the statement said.