INDIA:Blast Furnace-2 of Bhushan Steel was running Illegally- Govt Sources

According to official sources, the fire broke out around 10 am following three consecutive blasts in the blast furnace of the second phase of the Bhushan Steel Ltd, located in Odisha

The Odisha government has ordered to close down the Blast Furnace-2 of Bhushan Steel Ltd at Meramunduli in Dhenkanal District, Odisha, after Wednesday’s fire mishap. The state labour minister Bijayshree Raoutray has also indicated that strong action will be taken against the company for neglecting security norms.

The government has also indicated that exemplary action will be taken against the company for running the Blast Furnaces without necessary clearances. According to sources the company had applied for ‘consent to operate’ from the Odisha Pollution Control Board (OPCB) to run the Blast Furnace-2. As per the standard procedure the OPCB officials inspects and certify the security and other aspects of a Blast furnace before giving clearance.

However, no inspection or certification has been conducted by OPSB till date. So no permission has been granted to the company for operating the Blast Furnance-2. It has been learnt that the company was running the blast furnace anticipating that it’ll get the clearance soon.

While the government and the company claiming that only one person is dead in the blast, the insiders of the plant have said that, as many as 120 workers and technical staff were present at the furnace and the number of person lost their lives would be much more and might exceed 17 persons.

According to initial investigation, the blast happened due to presence of water in the slag pipe.
Death tolls in Bhushan steel plant