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Barbil, Oct 13: At least 13 workers of KJS Ahluwalia sponge iron plant at Barapada suffered burns Friday as an induction furnace there exploded, spraying molten metal. According to reports, four workers of the plant, which falls under the Rugudi police limits in Keonjhar, were admitted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH), Cuttack, as their condition was critical.
More than 60 workers were present at the foundry when the furnace blew up at 8.35 am. The furnace, witnesses said, was being cleaned without shutting the shop and was in operation when the mishap occurred.
The injured were rushed to the Tata Steel Hospital, Joda, first from where the four critically injured workers were shifted to SCBMCH.
The labourers injured in the mishap are: Biswanath Chatar, Manik Hembram, Kabuli Dehury, Harishchandra Nayak, Raju Das, Jiban Bindhani, Pramod Paswan, Arun Kumar Nayak, Indu Sidhhu, Gadadhar Jena, Sangi Dongo, Baiga Munda and Suraj Kumar Dehury.
Of them, Kabuli, who sustained 100 per cent burns; Biswanath, who received 95 per cent burns; Manik, with 80 per cent burns and Harishchandra with 70 per cent burns had to be shifted to SCBMCH.
Following the mishap, workers struck work alleging that such mishaps had become a recurring affair at the plant. They said the factories and broilers department was not taking any action against the company.
According to the workers, the company was contracting workers without providing any safety gear or tools and added that they had no record to prove that they were engaged as labourers with the company. They demanded an investigation of the mishap and the company’s operations.
Executive director of the company SRS Krishnan, however, downplayed the incident and said it was not a serious mishap. According to Krishnan, and only six persons were injured and two had been sent to Cuttack for further treatment. He denied the report that four injured persons were shifted to SCBMCH, Cuttack.
