NTPC shuts Unchahar plant unit after 26 die in blast

NTPC Unchahar plant blast: The death toll in the NTPC boiler blast Unchahar in Uttar Pradesh rose to 26 on Thursday, with more injured workers succumbing to their burn injuries.

Smoke billowing from the NTPC plant after one of its steam pipes burst, causing an explosion which has left at least 26 dead. (PTI Photo)

LUCKNOW: Power producer NTPC on Thursday said it has shut down a 500 MW unit at its Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh following the accident on Wednesday that claimed the lives of 26 people. The company in a regulatory filing in the BSE said: "This is to inform that Unit 6 (500 MW) of Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station, Rae Bareli, is under shut down after an accident in the evening of November 1, 2017. The other five units of the station are operating normally." The death toll in the NTPC boiler blast here in Uttar Pradesh rose to 26 on Thursday, with more injured workers succumbing to their burn injuries, officials said. The massive explosion took place in a 500 MW boiler unit in Unchahar town on the Lucknow-Allahabad highway. Many were trapped when a fire erupted in the boiler and a huge ball of dust rose after the blast, making the rescue operations difficult. On Thursday, contractual labourers at the plant raised slogans against the NTPC management. They claimed they had warned about an impending disaster at unit six as the temperature near the furnace had been steadily rising. The NTPC has launched a probe into the incident, which it said took place due to "excess ash deposition" in the furnace. The state government has ordered a magisterial probe. Rs 20 Lakh for next of kin of those killed in NTPC explosion The next of kin of those killed in a boiler explosion at NTPC's Unchahar plant in Uttar Pradesh's Rai Bareli district yesterday will get a compensation amount of Rs 20 lakh, Union Power minister R K Singh said on Thursday. Meanwhile, the state administration has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. A massive explosion had ripped a boiler at the NTPC's Unchahar plant and the death toll in the incident had risen up to 26, officials said.  Rahul visits Rae Bareli Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi met the workers injured in the boiler explosion at the NTPC plant. Taking a break from his Gujarat election tour, the Congress vice president visited the Gandhi family pocket- borough Rae Bareli to meet those injured in the explosion and said his party will demand a probe into the incident. The office of Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Labourers have said that the accident took place due to negligence and that there should be a judicial probe into the accident." "I was sad to see the pain of victims of the NTPC incident. Their families should get better compensation and government jobs, while the injured should get all possible help," he said. The Congress vice president was accompanied by senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress state president Raj Babbar.