Prohibitory orders at Bhushan plant site for a month

The police today imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 in the area in front of Bhushan Steel Limited (BSL) plant at Meramundali in Dhenkanal district as protests by trade unions and political parties intensified over the last week's deadly blast at the plant.

The prohibitory orders will remain in force for one month. Earlier, the district administration's efforts to persuade the agitators to clear the area, in front of the plant gate, had failed.

"The trade unions are demanding tripartite talks involving BSL, district administration and themselves. We assured them to convene such a meeting soon, but since they did not agree, we had to impose section 144," said Ruparoshan Sahu, collector of Dhenkanal.

Ever since the blast occurred, killing one worker and injuring 17 others, trade unions and political parties have been camping outside the plant gate, demanding action against the company owners for not ensuring safety measures. The police today arrested Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rudra Prasad Pani, who was leading the protests. Probes conducted by several agencies found that not only BSL did not have permission to commission its ill-fated blast furnace II, but also did not follow standard operating procedure to run the plant. A technical expert committee of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has said that the blast occurred as hot metal came in direct contact with water, which should not have happened had the company adopted proper safety measures.

The government has, meanwhile, started verifying the attendance of employees present on the day of the blast to ascertain the exact number of casualty in the face of allegation from several quarters that death toll could be more than the company quoted figure of death of one worker and injuries to 17 others.

Main opposition party Congress today demanded a CBI probe into the incident. It accused the state government of going overboard to help the company to set up the steel plant. So, investigation conducted by it would not be impartial, the party said.

"Naveen Patnaik had extended all help to the Singhal siblings to set up two steel plants of Bhushan in Odisha. Since state crime branch and local police officials are working hand in glove with the BSL authorities, a probe by not less than CBI would reveal the truth," said Srikant Jena, Union minister of state for statistics and programme implementation, chemical and fertiliser.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) rejected these allegations. "BSL was provided all necessary support as per the state industrial policy, like any other industrial unit. There is no truth in Jena's allegation," said Kalpataru Das, senior BJD leader and minister of Panchayati Raj.