By IANS,
Raipur : The judicial probe report into Chhattisgarh’s biggest industrial tragedy at Balco power plant when a chimney collapsed in Sept 2009, killing 40 workers, was tabled in the state assembly Friday. The report blames Balco and others for the incident.
The Chhattisgarh government that had appointed district and sessions court judge Sandeep Bakshi to investigate the chimney collapse case. The report has blamed officials of Balco, a Chinese firm SEPCO and its Indian partner GDCL for the killing of the workers when 225-metre chimney of the under-construction power plant came crashing down at Korba town, about 250 km from here.
At least 40 workers were buried alive in the tragedy.
The Bakshi Commission had submitted its report to the state government Aug 9, but the state government chose to table the report in the assembly on the concluding day of the winter session Friday.
The report has also held officials of Korba Municipal Corporation, town and country planning and labour department responsible for the incident.
Vedanta Resources Plc-controlled Balco, in which the government holds a 49 percent stake, had awarded Chinese firm Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) the task of constructing two thermal power plants of 600 MW each at Korba. Later, SEPCO outsourced the work of constructing a 257-metre chimney to Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd. (GDCL).
The state government also tabled the Action Taken Report (ATR) and listed details on how many officials were booked for the tragedy.
The ATR said three Balco officials, along with three Chinese Engineers working for SEPCO, were arrested. Six officials and employees of GDCL were also arrested and a chargesheet had been filed and the matter was now sub judice.