A day after the Odisha High Court issued notices to the State Government on a PIl seeking closure of the Bhushan steel plant, the HC on Wednesday issued notices to the Government seeking a status report on the November 13 blast in the Dhenkanal-based plant.
Chief Justice AK Goel and Justice AK Rath took up yet another PIl filed by the Nationalist lawyers’ Forum and asked the Government to file the status report on the mishap within two weeks. The Government was also asked to file a counter-affidavit in the matter within four weeks. Another HC Bench had on Tuesday issued notices to the Government on a PIl which seeks closure of the Bhushan plant stating that the company has come up illegally after acquiring land violating the land Acquisition Act provisions.
Petitioner Nishikant Mishra, secretary of the forum, urged the court to order an independent inquiry, preferably by the CBI, into the mishap in which officially it was declared that three workers died and several others were injured. Quoting newspaper reports, Mishra alleged that there were over 900 workers in the plant at the time of the furnace blast causing extensive damages. He also alleged that the unofficial death toll is much more than the official figure.
Gross negligence in implementing labour laws and other safety laws requisite for an industrial house were the causes of the loss of precious lives in the industrial unit ever since it was commissioned in 2005, he further alleged. Basing on newspaper reports, the PIl stated that at least 95 workers have died in the plant since 2005 and 65 criminal cases have been filed against the company till date.
Seeking a CBI probe into the mishap, Mishra has also sought appropriate action against the company for its gross negligence in implementing the labour laws and other safety laws.