Naveen announces Rs 2 lakh for each Odia labour killed in

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh to the family of each of the three Odia labourers who were killed in a blast at a granite quarry in Andhra Pradesh.

Expressing grief over the death of the three Odia labourers, Patnaik said the Odisha government would bear the cost of treatment of the three injured labourers from the state.

Sources in the state labour department said the bodies of three Odia labourers will reach Rambha in Ganjam district tonight from Kurnool.

Of the 15 persons killed in the blast, so far three have been identified as from Odisha. The number of Odia labourers killed on Friday may increase after identification of all the bodies, labour department officials said.

The three Odisha labourers have been identified as Duryodhan Nahaka, Manoranjan Nahaka and Bhima Nahaka of Ganjam district.

Some of the injured labourers were from Odisha. They were admitted at a government hospital in Kurnool and their condition remained critical, the sources said.

Odisha government has sent a two-member fact-finding team, comprising the Ganjam District Labour Welfare Officer and the Rural Labour Inspector of Ganjam, to Kurnool.

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh government had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the family of the deceased.

There were nearly 30 workers at the quarry when the blast took place on Friday night.