Probe ordered into Bhushan Steel mishap

Company, meanwhile, has requested labour minister to allow resumption of operations at the already sealed blast furnace-2, where the accident occured

Taking a serious note of the casualties due to the explosion on Wednesday at the Bhushan Steel plant at Meramandali in Dhenkanal district, the Odisha government has instructed the labour commissioner to investigate.

Recurring mishaps at BSL's steel plant had raised questions on the safety measures taken by the company.

“The labour commissioner has been sent to the unit to probe into the incident and find out the number of labourers working at the plant on the day of the mishap”, said Labour Minister Bijayshree Routray.

He said, the commissioner will also urge the company authorities to put in place the bio-metric system to mark the attendance of the labourers, engineers and officers.

The company officials, meanwhile, have requested the labour minister to allow resumption of operations at the already sealed blast furnace-2, where the accident occured.

Routray admitted that the department has failed to take action against the company in spite of the rising number of accidents in the plant premises.

Members of trade unions today ransacked the office of the Directorate of Factories and Boilers for their failure to take against Bhushan Steel and arrest its owners.

In a separate development, the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has decided to file a case against BSL for going ahead with the commissioning of the blast furnace no 2 without green signal from the Board.

“Bhushan Steel had applied for the consent to operate. The company was asked to submit some documents which were lacking, but they have failed to do so”, said Lalit Tiwary, member secretary, OSPCB.

“In violation of the law, the company has started operation clandestinely. Now, we are contemplating to file a court case against them”, he added.

The Directorate of Factories and Boilers has also decided to prepare a comprehensive report on the condition of the operational blast furnace no.1 of the unit.

The Dhenkanal district administration has formed a team comprising magistrate, police, officials of OSPCB and Employee's State Insurance Corporation to examine the security measures taken by companies in the district including Bhushan Steel.

On Thursday, three top company officials namely Atulya Kumar Verma, chief operating officer, Naveen Tyagi, shift- in-charge and Meghpal Singh, president, steel making department, were arrested.