RAIPUR: Nine employees of the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), a flagship company of the state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), were burnt to death and at least 14 others sustained injuries owing to the explosion and consequent major fire that broke out near the coke oven battery and the supply line in the plant, about 30 km east of Raipur on Tuesday.
Around a half-a-dozen others miraculously escaped unhurt when the fire broke out. The SAIL has ordered an inquiry into the incident (See Box)According to the hospital sources the condition of four are very critical.
"At round 10:30 there was a fire erupted on the plant job which was being taken up by BSP employees from different department near the Coke Oven section eleven and the gas pipeline adjacent to it. Nine BSP staffers were killed. The 14 injured were rushed to Bhilai Sector-9 hospital where they are undergoing medical treatment. We are not in a position to reveal the names of those identified", the BSP spokesperson and DGM Vijay Mairal told The New Indian Express.
he BSP workforce were infuriated over the BSP management for not declaring the identity of those killed in the incident, though some bodies have been recognised but the management appeared reluctant to officially announce it.
As per the information reaching the state capital, around thirty employees were working at the spot when the incident took place. The rescue team supported by the district police to offer assistance at the site.
To a query on whether the fire broke out owing to the leakage of gas, the BSP management said that only the investigation will divulge the lapses.
The TNIE has learned from the reliable sources that no safety audit have been undertaken for long in the BSP. "It's sad not much attention are being given on maintenance and preventive care. More focus remains on newer projects", a former BSP officer told on condition of anonymity.
On June 14 this year, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the SAIL's state-of-the-art expanded unit of BSP in Chhattisgarh. Union steel minister of state for steel Vishnu Deo Sai and SAIL chairman A K Chaudhary reached the BSP late evening.
The opposition Congress blamed the callous and careless approach of the BSP management responsible behind the tragic incident. "It's shocking", the state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said. "Had the requisite routine maintenance works carried out in the plant such tragic incident could have been averted", asserted the former chief minister Ajit Jogi.