Facor-Vedanta fire mishap: Second victim succumbs

BHADRAK: The second victim of the fire mishap that took place at the Facor Vedanta Plant at Bhadrak’s Randia on April 11, succumbed to burn injuries on Friday evening, informed district collector Siddheswar Baliram Bondar on Saturday. Prohibitory orders in and around the plant have also been extended till April 25.

The deceased Bijoy Mohapatra was under treatment at the National Burns Centre in Mumbai for the last 10 days. The other deceased, Ratikant Sutar, succumbed to his injuries last Monday. In a meeting with Vedanta CEO Sujal Saha and HR chief Suniti Dhal on the day, Bondar directed that the Plant management paid due compensation to the family of the deceased and employment to one of the family members.

The district administration has meanwhile extended prohibitory orders till April 25 to maintain law and order besides asking Rural police station IIC to take stock of the current situation. Stress was also laid on the safety and security of the workers to avoid any mishaps in the future.

Sources said the mishap took place due to the overloading of the furnace beyond its capacity. While it could accommodate 220 metric tonne, around 260 metric tonne of chrome ore was poured on the furnace for melting on a fateful day.

The plant management had engaged inexperienced labourers in furnace operation of whom one deceased furnace operator was previously an auto-rickshaw driver by profession, alleged retired furnace in charge Srikanta Ojha.Saha assured that the plant’s safety management will be examined by experts soon.

The two contractual labourers were burnt when molten chrome slipped out of the furnace 10 days back. They were brought to Bhubaneswar and then shifted to National Burns Centre, Mumbai. The irate workers had ransacked the offices and damaged property worth lakhs.