NTPC explosion: UP CM Yogi Adityanath visits blast victims at Lucknow Civil Hospital

NTPC explosion: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the Civil Hospital in Lucknow. (File)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Saturday visited the people injured in the NTPC power plant explosion in Raebareli at the Lucknow Civil Hospital, reported news agency ANI. The explosion, one of the worst industrial disasters in the country, left at least 32 dead and nearly 100 injured. Shortly after the incident, CM Adityanath had announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the family of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the grievously injured, besides Rs 25,000 for other injured workers.

Addressing reporters on Friday, 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.  Workers at NTPC were contract workers 

Initial reports from the site of the accident indicate that safety norms were violated. The 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. On Wednesday, this exercise seems to have gone horribly wrong at Unchahar.

The NTPC spokesperson responded to The Indian Express mail on the reports 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.”   NTPC probe shows safety norms were violated 

The 1,550-MW power plant supplies electricity to nine states and employs around 870 people. In a statement issued on Thursday, the NTPC had said that at unit number 6 of its Unchahar plant, there was a sudden abnormal sound at 20-meter elevation on Wednesday afternoon.