Andhra Pradesh: Polymer plant faced pollution plaints since its inception

VIJAYAWADA: LG Polymers — Hindustan Polymers till 1997 before it was taken over by the South Korean group LG — was commissioned in 1961 by the late Vittal Mallya, founder of United Breweries (UB) group.


When the plant opened in 1961, RR Venkatapuram, the area where the manufacturing unit is located, was a thick jungle. There were no residential colonies in the area till the late eighties, said Syed Shamsuddin, a former worker at Coromandel Fertilisers, who now lives close to the LG Polymers plant in Vepagunta.

“Residents of RR Venkatapuram and Vepagunta have many times complained to authorities about the foul smell emanating from the plant, but no action was ever taken, though the authorities always told us that action was taken. I am told that that was the case since the plant was commissioned in 1961,” Shamsuddin said over phone from Visakhapatnam.

S Koteswara Rao, who runs a shop in Gopalapatnam near RR Venkatapuram, had the same complaint. “We have complained often about pollution from the plant to police and other authorities but no action was ever taken,” he said.

For the next 37 years, Hindustan Polymers was owned and managed by the UB group. Businessman Vijay Mallya, Vittal Mallya’s son, who took charge as chairman of the UB group in 1985 following his father’s death, sold Hindustan Polymers to LG group of South Korea in 1997. The deal was said to be around ?30 crore, but neither party officially confirmed it.

Later, LG moved its corporate and marketing offices from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai.