Vehemently opposing the proposed Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (VK-PCPIR), general secretary of the Human Rights Forum (HRF) V.S. Krishna has said the project will cause harm to the people residing in the region as the proposed industries were environmentally hazardous. Addressing a public meeting organised by the district unit of the HRF here at Gandhi Bhavan, Mr. Krishna said though the officials announcements indicated that over 6.5 lakh jobs would be provided to the local youth through the project, the ground realities were different.
“We have many doubts about the employment, as we have the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) as example. One thing is for sure that the proposed industries are highly dangerous to the environment,” he said.
HPCL blast
Referring to the recent explosion in the HPCL plant in Visakhapatnam, Mr. Krishna said the incident came to the light the security aspects of heavy industries.
He said the government monitoring on the industries proposed to come up in the VK-PCPIR was doubtful, so that the security of the heavy industries too was at question. He said the HRF was not against industries, but for the hazardous industries.
Secretary of the HRF district unit Edida Rajesh submitted the annual report. HRF vice-president Malasani Srinivas and others were present.
Published - September 18, 2013 04:11 pm IST
