Irked over a volley of questions on his department’s failure to ensure safety in Bhushan steel plant, where a blast killed one and injured many on Wednesday, labour Minister Bijayshree Routray said, “Ask Chief Minister for answers.”
When asked why his Ministry was not taking steps against the company though it had ample of cases of violating industrial guidelines and safety norms, Routray again washed his hand off, saying, “I had given instructions to the concerned departments, but I feel the department had not taken steps in time.” An exasperated Routray also told the reporters to seek an answer from the Chief Secretary pertaining to lapses.
However, the Minister, still not spared by reporters, assured that he would write a letter to the Chief Secretary in the Bhushan issue to take action against officials of the departments responsible for the safety lapses in the steel mill.
Asserting that the condition of the Blast Furnace-1 that is already in operation in Bhushan would be reviewed, he said that safety audits of all the hazardous industrial units in the State would be conducted by the Factory and Boiler Directorate in a phased manner. Experts of IIT Kharagpur would be roped in to conduct safety audit on quarterly basis to avoid any tragedy.
The onus lies with the concerned companies to give quarterly audit safety reports to the Government, he said, adding the Government would not tolerate any violation of labour or environmental guidelines.
Routray also landed in a fresh controversy after two Bhushan officials met him at his residence at 9 pm on Thursday night. He was reported to have a discussion with the duo. The two officials had parked their Corolla car a little distance away from the Minister’s residence and then entered into the building completely in a hush-hush manner. They entered there like ordinary public.
Notably, on the day of the mishap, Routray had admitted that Bhushan had been constantly defying the State Government despite several warnings to maintain safety standards in its Meramundali unit in Dhenkanal. Sources said at least 98 peiple have died due to a series of accidents in the plant since it was commissioned. Near about 200 cases have been taken for trial by courts and 70 cases have been registered in different police stations against the company for violating safety and other norms.
Meanwhile, the Dhenakanl District Collector constituted a joint committee comprising a District Magistrate, a senior police official, a few senior scientists from the State Pollution Control Board and the State Insurance Corporation to go into the safety and security measures taken by the companies in the district, including Bhushan. The team will submit a report to the Government within two months and would basically look into violation of environmental norms, factory and labour laws.