NTPC explosion: Death toll rises to 32, power plant probe committee to submit report in 30 days

NTPC explosion: NTPC Chairman Gurdeep Singh, addressing reporters today, said they’ll shift 12 more people to Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi and will ensure they can provide best possible treatment to them.

The death toll in the blast at NTPC’s Unchahar plant in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli has risen to 32, ANI reported on Friday, even as initial reports from the accident site indicated that safety norms were violated. Addressing reporters today, NTPC Chairman Gurdeep Singh said they’ll shift 12 more people to Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi and will ensure they can provide best possible treatment to them. He also said the report of the special committee, that has been constituted under their senior-most director, will submit it’s findings within 30 days and whatever recommendations will be implemented in the 50-megawatt boiler at the plant in Unit 6, will be used at other units as well. “This will be shared with other power plants also. Saying anything as of now will not be correct. BHEL experts have reached the site,” said Singh.

“Sequence of events, data log will be analysed only after which reason for explosion can be ascertained,” added Singh.

Initial reports point to a practice that is regularly resorted to across coal-fired plants in the country. The practice involves de-choking the bottom hopper — the funnel-shaped bottom end of the boiler — by using rods to push out ash clinkers while the boiler is in operation, in violation of safety norms. This very exercise seems to have gone horribly wrong at Unchahar. Also Read: Don’t know if we’ll ever go back to work there: Victims of NTPC power plant blast

After The Indian Express had sent a detailed email to NTPC on the initial reports with specific questions, an NTPC spokesperson responded saying: “…we feel it is too premature for us to conclude the exact causes, for which a committee has been constituted. We request you to bear with us and not go by hearsay and unauthenticated information being circulated around.” Also Read: Early probe shows safety norms violated, boiler ops went wrong

While the NTPC’s official probe report is still underway, officials in the know told The Indian Express that workers at the Unchahar plant had opened a manhole at 10 metres height, and were in the process of inserting poking rods to clear out the bottom of the hopper. “Workers go below the hopper, sometimes hoisted on scaffoldings, to poke with rods from the bottom. The clinker conveyor is switched off. The process is called double poking, wherein the threat of big lumps falling on the heads of workers is a clear and present danger. The danger in doing it when the boiler is operational is that tonnes of clinkers or solid ash may fall down suddenly,” said a source.

Soon after the incident, Union Power Minister R K Singh on Thursday said next of kin of those killed will get a compensation of Rs 20 lakh. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Wednesday announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the seriously injured in one of the country’s worst industrial accidents in years.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who was on a three-day Navsarjan Yatra in poll-bound Gujarat, took a break to visit Rae Bareli to meet the families of victims of the explosion. Raebareli is the parliamentary constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has expressed shock at the “terrible tragedy”. At the spot, he was heard asking officers about the incident. Rahul was accompanied by senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress state president Raj Babbar. Rahul was heard asking officers: “How many workers were working there?”

Raebareli: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi arrives to meet the family members of the victims of Unchahar NTPC boiler blast at Postmortem House in Raebareli on Thursday. PTI Photo

“People are saying that it (the plant unit) was run early (before schedule). It should not have been run that way. We will demand a probe,” the Congress vice president told PTI. Azad demanded a high-level probe by an outside agency to bring out the facts.

PM Narendra Modi expressed grief at the deaths

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply pained” by the accident, even as he approved an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed in the blast. On Twitter, PMO said: “Prime Minister @narendramodi has approved an ex- gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the accident at the NTPC plant in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh. PM has approved Rs. 50,000 each for those injured due to the accident.”

NHRC issues notice to UP government

The National Human Rights Commission had issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday over the incident that took several lives and injured over 100 people. The Commission said in a statement that a “high-level probe into the matter is immediately required to ascertain the negligence and errors, if any, behind the incident, which involves the right to life”. It said there was need to ensure that such tragedies do not recur. The notice has been sent to the chief secretary of the state. A detailed report is expected from the government within six weeks, the rights panel said.