JHARSUGUDA: A day after two contractual workers died and six others sustained critical injuries after a large metal plate fell on them at the blast furnace of Odisha Metalliks Pvt Ltd, Sadar police on Wednesday arrested the plant’s senior vice-president Ajit Singh, plant operation in-charge Sumit Pal and safety officer Hemanta Kumar Prusty.
Sadar IIC Sandhyarani Gochhayat said the officials were forwarded to court in the evening. She said after a meeting held in Jharsuguda on the day, the company announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for cremation of the bodies. The bodies of Purna Chandra Jena of Ganjam and Alakhdeo Saw of Palamu in Jharkhand were handed over to their families after postmortem.
Akshya Kumar Bhuyan, a relative of one of the deceased, in a complaint filed with police blamed the plant’s management and safety officer for the tragedy. Bhuyan claimed Singh along with Lakra and Pal, and several directors, including Pulak Chakrabarty and Sajjan Patu want only put the workers at risk. The board of directors of the company has also been named in the complaint.