Team Herald
MARGAO: Five industrial workers were seriously injured in a blast caused by water seeping into a melting furnace that caused a short circuit at a melting plant in Cuncolim Industrial Estate on Friday.
Workers Amol Singh, Ramchandra Bhatiya, Ganga, Ranjit Singh (Bihar natives) and UP native Balsha Burma were admitted to a private hospital in Margao. Conditions of Amol and Ramchandra are said to be critical.
Sources from the factory – R R Steel melting plant – disclosed that the furnace fell on the five workers, who were near the heater when the explosion occurred.
It may be recalled that many such incidents have occurred in the Cuncolim industrial area.
Some workers disclosed that factory officers were trying to hide the incident and had even denied entry to fire personnel, claiming that there was no fire incident. The officers allegedly even stopped the press from visiting the site, and it was only after police intervention that fire personnel and the press were allowed inside.
Sources also disclosed that most of the workers of such steel plants came from Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra. They claimed that the workers were hired on contract basis and the contractors did not provide security equipment or other security measures. Since these workers are unorganised non-Goans, neither the government nor labour organisations take an interest in solving their grievances.
Workers alleged that there are more then a dozen iron and steel plants in Cuncolim Industrial Estate, but none of them follow security norms. They also claimed that the government officials are mute spectators and have failed to pull up contractors and factory owners for illegalities.
Cuncolim police have conducted a panchanama. The police inspector stated that after an enquiry, if the need arises, they would register an offence against those responsible for the incident.
