Three days after the blast in the Bhushan Steel limited's plant in Dhenkanal district, the State Government is still clueless about the exact number of persons killed and injured in the mishap.
Though the plant was not accessible, nor any of its higher bosses either, immediately after the explosion and fire in the Blast Furnace-2 of Slag Pit area during its commissioning, on Wednesday, the very day one person was reported to be killed and 40 injured.
However, later, the plant authorities failed to clarify as to the exact number of workers engaged during the commissioning of the furnace and the ones killed, injured and trapped.
District Collector Rooparoshan Sahu even expressed her helplessness with regard to giving a clear picture on the death toll, passing the buck to the plant for having failed to produce any reliable record pertaining to the workforce employed on the fateful day. The prevailing confusion has fuelled a suspicion that many more persons might have been killed and injured than cited.
Several trade union and political leaders cried foul over the goof-up, attributing the frequent accidents in the steel plant to its safety negligence and manipulation of law in connivance with powerful members of the BJD Government and officials of various regulatory bodies like the Factory & Boiler Directorate and the State Pollution Control Board.