A day after the gas pipeline explosion shook this village of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, claiming the lives of 18 persons, people continued to seethe in anger over the negligence of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).
They showed their ire on Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao and former Amalapuram MP, G.V. Harsha Kumar, when they visited the village on Saturday. They did not spare even Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
People heckled the VIPs and wondered why they had come so late after precious lives were lost. The locals felt that the leaders were there only to gain political mileage and blamed both politicians and officials of GAIL and ONGC for not heeding to their repeated requests to shift the pipeline.
The toll in the explosion rose to 18 as five-year-old Tatikayala Sreeja and 20-year-old Rayudu Suryanarayana succumbed to injuries on Saturday while undergoing treatment in Kakinada.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu spoke to the family members of those who suffered burns and who were undergoing treatment at Apollo and other hospitals over telephone. He instructed the hospital authorities to offer the best treatment to the injured.
Many panic-stricken residents who fled the village on Friday morning have returned, much to the relief of their relatives, who were worried about their safety. Some of them ran as far away as Rajahmundry catching the first bus.
Pipeline to be replacedAs for the damaged pipeline, a senior official of GAIL said it would be replaced in the next few days. Gas supply between Antervedi village, from where the main trunk line starts, and Vijayawada has been cut off. With no gas supply, power generation was affected at the Lanco plant in Vijayawada.
Officials said it might take three more days to replace the pipeline.
Five to seven lakh cubic meters of gas was being supplied per day through this pipeline not only to Lanco but to ceramic units in East Godavari and other industries in West Godavari.
Meanwhile, a high-power inquiry committee visited the spot and spoke to the local people.
Another team of officials from GAIL, New Delhi and Mumbai visited the place. “Our directors and other top officials from the technical side have visited the blast site and held a review meeting,” said Pankaj Patel, general manager of GAIL, Rajahmundry.
