Bhilai Steel Plant Blast: CEO terminated with immediate effect, officials suspended after death of 12 employees

Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh announced the action against the officials after visiting the injured employees.

The incident took place at the plant of the state-owned SAIL in Durg district of Chhattisgarh. (Image: PTI)

Bhilai Steel Plant Blast: In stringent action taken by the government, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Bhilai Steel Plant was sacked along with suspension of two senior officials following the blast at the plant which took lives of as many as 12 employees. According to a report by news agency PTI, Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh announced the action against the officials after visiting the injured employees of the plant at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital in Bhilai town, located around 30 km from here in Chhattisgarh. CEO M Ravi was terminated from the CEO post with immediate affect while General Manager (safety department) T Pandya Raja and Deputy General Manager (energy department) Naveen Kumar were suspended, Singh said. The government has also announced a compensation of Rs 30 lakh for the kin of the deceased. The incident took place at the plant of the state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in Durg district of Chhattisgarh. Nine people died on spot whereas 14 were severely injured. Two of the injured succumbed Tuesday late night while one more died Wednesday afternoon, taking the death toll to 12, Durg Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Shukla was quoted as saying by PTI. Shukla further added that 11 injured are undergoing treatment at the hospital. The explosion took place in the gas pipeline connected to the coke oven section of the plant during a maintenance job, the SAIL had said in its official statement. The government has constituted two committees which will conduct a detailed probe into the incident. “One internal committee of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has already been constituted to probe the incident on Tuesday, which has been asked to submit its report within seven days,” Shukla informed. Another committee, he said, will be formed by the Steel Ministry which will have experts from all over the country to ascertain that how the incident occurred and who were responsible for it. The Union minister also informed that special permission was taken from the Election Commission of India to announce the relief as the Model Code of Conduct has been announced in the poll-bound Chhattisargh. The employees who have suffered minor injuries will be given a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each. The company authorities have been directed to provide the amount of the affected families at the earliest possible. The explosion took place in the gas pipeline connected to the coke oven section of the plant during a maintenance job. (With agency inputs)