Chinese engineers get SC nod to visit home

The Supreme Court has granted permission to the two Chinese engineers accused in the collapse of under-construction chimney at Vedanta-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco) to leave for their native country to solemnise their marriage.

The two Chinese engineers O Lou and Wan Qung were among the three technocrats of the China-based Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (Sepco) arrested in connection with the Balco chimney mishap that claimed 41 lives on September 23, 2009. The Chinese company's project in charge, Woo Chunan was the third employee to face the action. The three were arrested in January this year. Later, they were released on bail by the Supreme Court after the trial and Chhattisgarh High Court turned down their plea. The engineers were staying in Korba.

The Sepco had bagged the contract for setting up the 1,200-Mw unit for Balco near its Aluminium facility in Korba district, about 250 km from here. The job for building the chimney was awarded to Indian company Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd (GDCL).

O Lou and Wan Qung had filed bail plea in the trial and later in the High Court to allow them to leave the country and visit their native place in China. The two cited their proposed marriage as reason. Following Korba police plea, the court had banned their exit from the country.

After the trial court and the High Court rejected the plea, the Chinese engineers moved to the Supreme Court. The apex court granted permission to the Chinese engineers to visit China and return within 14 days.

“We are yet to get any written communication, but we have heard about the apex court order granting permission to the engineers to visit China,” Korba Superintendent of Police R L Dangi told Business Standard. The court had asked them to furnish bank surety of Rs 1 crore each, he added.

Dangi said senior police officials from Korba were sent to New Delhi to oppose the plea of Chinese engineers. “If the engineers failed to return, it would not be an easy task to track them in their country,” he said.