Raipur: At least 20 workers were killed and some 50 were trapped under debris when a chimney of an under-construction power plant of Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) collapsed in Chhattisgarh's Korba town on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The state government ordered a judicial inquiry into the accident that took place when about 100 workers and engineers were engaged in the construction work at Balco Nagar area, some 250 km north of state capital Raipur.
"It's a massive accident, we have retrieved 20 bodies so far, and many more are trapped under the collapsed chimney's debris. A rescue and relief operation is under way," District Superintendent of Police Ratanlal Dangi told IANS by telephone.
Balco officials say work was on to construct a 275-metre chimney and construction work was completed for some 100 metres. The chimney structure collapsed amid heavy rain.
Police officials at Korba said angry workers held Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd (GDCL) responsible for the tragedy as it is assigned the chimney construction work. They also manhandled GDCL officials, police said.
The under-construction thermal power plant of two units, each of 600 MW capacity, is owned by Balco, in which Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd holds 51 percent share while remaining 49 percent belongs to the Indian government.
The state government instructed the district collector and superintendent of police to register a first information report (FIR) against the Balco management for allegedly overlooking security aspects and announced a judicial probe into the chimney crash.
The state also announced compensation of Rs100,000 to the family of each of those killed.
Comments
0 comment