4 people have died in the steel plant accident in Mungeli, Chhattisgarh. After 36 hours, at 11 pm on Friday night, the silo (heavy iron storage tank) was removed. In the early hours of Saturday, 3-4 hours after the silo was removed, the bodies of 3 people including the engineer were also taken out from the debris. This
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After postmortem the family members have refused to accept the body. The families of the two deceased are adamant on the demand of Rs 50 lakh compensation. Whereas, the family members of Engineer Jayant Sahu have demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job.
family members sitting on strike
The relatives of the deceased sat on a dharna in Sims. Accusations have been made of pressurizing the company and administration. A large number of police forces are deployed as a precaution. Patharia SDM Bharosa Ram Thakur said that efforts are being made to provide financial assistance from the government and the company. The family members are furious after the assurance of compensation of Rs 15 lakh.
pressure to compromise
On behalf of Jayant Sahu’s family, Ajit Sahu said that we do not have much demand. Compensation has been demanded according to the salary of the deceased. They have small children, whose maintenance is necessary. No people from the company are coming. Police administration and revenue officers are talking. Pressure is being exerted for compromise. The police administration should maintain pressure to take away the dead body.
The silo was removed late Friday night, 36 hours after the accident.
FIR against plant manager and manager
The name of the plant where the accident took place is Kusum Smelters Private Limited. It started on 11 August 2020. Its directors are Sandeep Aggarwal, Aditya Aggarwal, Vishal Aggarwal and Yash Poddar. More than 350 workers work in this plant. Here work is done to make cast iron from iron.
After the accident, on the instructions of the Collector, the officers of the Industries Department conducted a preliminary investigation, in which negligence of the manager and management has come to light. Here the silo was loaded beyond its capacity, due to which an accident occurred and the risk had to be taken.
On the basis of the investigation report, Sargaon police has registered a case against the plant’s operation manager Anil Prasad, in-charge Amit Kedia and the managers of the plant. Collector Rahul Dev said that after investigation, action will be taken against the culprits.
what is the whole matter
It is being told that the management has hurried to start the production in the plant which was started a year ago. The silo was installed 20 days ago without trial. It has also come to light that the installation was done on a weak structure.
After installing the silo, it was told that there was a fault in it but still no seriousness was shown. Due to overload the structure of the silo started shaking. It was being repaired with a crane on Thursday afternoon when the accident occurred. Some employees including the supervisor got buried under this.
After cutting with a gas cutter, the weight of the silo was reduced after which it was removed from the spot.
Attempt failed twice, success in third attempt
After this accident, rescue work continued in the presence of Collector Rahul Dev and SP Bhojram Patel. Along with SDRF, NDRF team was also called. Due to the heavy weight of the container, the soldiers along with the machines appeared helpless.
After this, two cranes, one of 400 and the other of 250 tonne capacity, were ordered from Bhilai and Bilaspur. It took 8 hours to assemble and operate, but it failed within a short time. The hooking wire broke twice. Then the container was cut with a gas cutter and the ash accumulated inside it was taken out. After losing weight, the third attempt was successful at around 11 pm and the container was removed.
On Thursday, employees and laborers of the mechanical department of the factory were working to strengthen the weak structure of the silo.
Deputy CM Saw arrived as soon as the silo was removed During the rescue, MLA Dharamlal Kaushik was present in the plant from Friday morning till afternoon. During this time Congress leader Rajendra Shukla also reached there. As soon as the information about the removal of the silo was received at around 11 pm, Deputy CM Arun Sao reached the spot.
He said that every effort has been made to remove the heavy container. Now further rescue will be done easily. The government is with the family and all possible help will be provided. Investigation is also being conducted under the Factory Act. Strict action will be taken against the culprits.
Along with the plant management, a large number of people from the surrounding areas also remained standing inside and outside the plant throughout the night.
Fear of uproar and protest, plant converted into cantonment
After the accident, the villagers also gathered along with the family members. There was an uproar after the death of a laborer but they were calmed down by giving advice. IG Dr. Sanjeev Shukla had also deployed police forces from other districts including Bilaspur, Raigarh, Korba, Janjgir-Champa, Sarangarh-Bilaigarh. During this time, a large number of police forces were deployed by erecting barricades in the entire plant and surrounding areas.
Wife and children are in bad condition while crying. Engineer Jayant Sahu, resident of Sarkanda Jabdapara, also became a victim of the accident at the plant. Jayant Sahu lived in Jabdapara with his family for the last 10 years. His wife is in bad condition and crying. Elder son Ashish (18 years) has gone to Bhopal this year to study engineering. Younger son Ashutosh (12 years) studies in St. Xavier’s School, Jabdapara. Jayant Sahu is originally from Ganjam near Odisha.
