Two more labourers succumbed to their injuries on Thursday.
The death toll in the chemical factory explosion in Dahej, in Gujarat’s Bharuch district, rose to 10, with two more labourers succumbing to their injuries on Thursday.
The Gujarat government’s Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH), Gandhinagar issued a closure notice to Yashashvi Rasayan Private Ltd and also ordered an audit of all the factories in Dahej.
In an official release, additional chief secretary of labour and employment department, Vipul Mittra said the closure notice was issued under section 4(2), of the Factories Act. “We have also started an investigation into the incident. The unit will not be allowed to resume operations, until adequate safety measures are in place,” the release quoted Mittra.
The release further added that the company authorities have started process for payment of ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to next of kin of the deceased.
The explosion in the storage tank of the chemical factory, owned by the Patel Group, led to fire that hindered movement of rescue teams till five hours after the incident. Six bodies were recovered from the site of the incident, while two died in the hospital on Wednesday. Officials said that 77 injured workers were admitted to various hospitals for treatment. Of them, 33 have been discharged.
Bharuch District collector M D Modia said, “Two more labourers are critical. Director of Industrial Safety and Health, P M Shah, had come to Bharuch from Gandhinagar and paid a visit to the factory premises. If any negligence is found on the part of the company owners, we will take strict legal actions.”
The deceased labourers have been identified as Rashmikant Chauhan (35) from Ahmedabad, Naresh Prajapati (27) from Bharuch, Pramod Yadav (26) from UP, Arun Kori (19) from Madhya Pradesh, Jayant Mahato (28) from West Bengal, Surajlal Singh Rajput (35), Munna Singh Shivprasad Singh (38), Tripurari Rai (25) and Hari Darshankumar Chaudhary (20) from Bihar. One person aged around 30 years is yet to be identified.
Bharuch District Superintendent of Police Rajendrasinh Chudasma said, “We are carrying out investigations as an accidental death case. The Forensic Science Laboratory, factory inspector and industries safety officials are also carrying out parallel probes. Once the cause of explosion is detected, we will decide our future course of action. The factory owners have not yet contacted the police.”
Yashashvi Rasayan Private Ltd’s human resource department’s head Nilesh Parekh said, “The company will pay compensation to the deceased’s family members. The labourers were working under contract. When the incident took place, there were nearly 150 people inside the factory. The employees and labourers are covered under workmen compensation and group personnel accident policy.”
Factory inspector N D Vaghela said, “The exact cause of the blast will be known after the investigation is over. We have come to know that the blast took place in one of the chemical tanks and due to its impact, other tanks also got damaged. We cannot enter the storage area right now. We will have to give it another two to three days for the toxicity to come down. We are trying to contact the company authorities to find out which chemicals were stored in the tanks.”