VIJAYAWADA: A contract worker in Dr Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (Dr NTTPS) died after he allegedly came under the wheels of a coal rake in the coal handling plant (CHP), on Saturday morning. The deceased worker was identified as Mallavarapu Showri Babu (32) and was survived by his wife, son and a daughter.
According to West zone assistant commissioner of police (ACP) K Hanumantha Rao, the incident happened at around 4 am on Saturday when the deceased worker Showri Babu, who worked under M/S Lokanath constructions Pvt Ltd, was reportedly linking the rakes after unloading the coal in the stage-1 coal unit of the power generation plant.
When Babu was in between the rakes, the loco pilot moved the goods train and the victim came under the wheels and died on the spot. The incident came to light when other workers went to the spot and saw Babu’s body in a pool of blood, ACP Hanumantha Rao added.
Explaining about the incident, NTTPS officials informed that the incident happened while re-grouping the empty wagons. They stated the loco pilot and the shunters are in constant contact through walkie-talkie sets while unloading and re-grouping the wagons.
On the day of the incident, after unloading of coal from wagons and regrouping emptied wagons on Wagon Tippler Outhaul side, regrouping of seven wagons were completed with two-way communication between the loco pilot and shunter. Due to some technical glitch and disturbances, the duo lost communication and the loco pilot moved the goods train, resulting in the mishap,” the officials maintained.
Upon learning about the incident, Showri’s family members, employees union leaders and workers reached the spot and alleged that the accident occurred due to poor communication and negligence of the management. They further demanded the NTTPS management to pay compensation to Babu’s family.
ACP further informed that a case has been registered and the body has been sent to NTTPS hospital for postmortem. Also, a probe is on to ascertain the reasons behind the incident and causes for loss of communication.