UP’S labour dept team blames NTPC for gross negligence

LUCKNOW: A state labour department team blamed NTPC for gross negligence in operating the Unchahar plant where 31 people were killed in a boiler explosion on Wednesday evening.

In its preliminary report, the team identified the formation of clinkers (stone-like residue from the burning of coal) in the boiler duct and the failure to poke (grind) them into smaller pieces for their removal as the primary reason for the explosion.

The five-member team headed by deputy director, labour, Jagmohan and boiler directorate in charge RK Purvey is at the accident site. The boiler directorate functions under the labour department. The team sent its report to the government on Friday evening but did not recommend any action at this stage, preferring to wait for the boiler to cool down for a detailed probe.

“Our objective at this juncture was to identify the cause of the accident. We have found the formation and accumulation of clinker in the boiler duct and the lack of its poking as the main reason for the explosion,” Jagmohan said. He said the report was ready and being sent to the government.

“Formation of clinkers from the burning of coal is not an unusual phenomena, but it is poked and hammered manually into small pieces for removal from the boilers at regular intervals,” Jagmohan said. “But, in this particular case, the operating staff showed utter carelessness by not poking the clinker when it was formed, allowing the deposit to accumulate that choked the space for fluid gas to come out leading to the blast in the boiler duct,” he explained.

The air pressure in the duct is normally lower than atmospheric pressure. But the duct gets choked due to prolonged deposition of clinker, increasing the air pressure inside phenomenally.

He claimed the NTPC had the boiler licence as prescribed under the Indian Boiler Act and the renewal of the licence was due in December. “The NTPC authorities did not inform us about the NEWDELHI: Ten of the 100 injured in the NTPC explosion were admitted to the burns intensive care unit of Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi, while six more were brought to AIIMS on Friday evening.

They were flown to the Capital on Thursday night to ensure better facilities were provided to them. Minister of state for health Anupriya Patel met the families of the victims at Safdarjung late on Thursday night and assured them the “best possible” care. Three of the nine men have suffered 80% burns while one has 90% burns. accident. We rushed to the site on our own, taking cognizance of media reports,” he said.

Under the Indian Boiler Act, 1923, a thermal plant or factory is supposed to compulsorily inform the boiler inspector in writing within 24 hours of an accident occurring due to a boiler or a steam pipe, a provision that was given the go-by in this case.

Additional chief secretary, labour, RK Tiwari said the state government would take suitable action in the matter after it received the report from the field.

On Thursday, NTPC’S preliminary probe revealed that the unit in question had a problem in ash evacuation and officers were trying to fix it. It was because of this issue that the power generation at the plant was reduced to 190 MW against its capacity of 400 MW.

Meanwhile, Rajesh Prajapati, the nodal officer for the magisterial probe, said the statements of the eyewitnesses have been sought in the next two weeks.

NTPC chairman and managing director Gurdeep Singh said it would take three-six months to get the unit back on track.