VASCO: Verna Police arrested six persons, including five officials of Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited (ZACL) and a supervisor in connection with the deaths of three workers in a major explosion in the condenser tank at the ZACL premises at Zuarinagar.
The police arrested plant manager D S Usgaonkar, safety manager G S Lotlikar, safety officer R J Shirate and S Bicholkar and M Prabhudesai, both staff of the safety section of the factory, while the supervisor, identified as one Pradhan was arrested on Wednesday late evening after the police registered a case against them and the ZACL contractor – Bokaro Engineering Works, Ratnagiri.
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Pradhan was present at the site when the blast took place killing three workers, while others have been held responsible for negligence.
Informing of the arrest of the supervisor, Mormugao DySP Nilesh Rane said more arrests will be made in the case. He said that the Bokaro Engineering Works was in contract with the ZACL for maintenance works and also on the immediate supervisory staff of the company. He said that the supervisor who was present at the site when the tragedy occurred had failed in his duties to supervise the works properly.
DySP Rane said that the roles of the contractor and the ZACL management are being investigated and only after thorough investigation, the police will be able to know the responsibility and negligence of the officials. At the same time, he hinted that more arrests are in the offing.
Meanwhile, Pradhan was released on bail on Thursday. Verna Police have registered a case against the accused under Sections 336 and 304 (A) of IPC. Verna PI Diogo Gracias is conducting further investigations under the guidance of Mormugao DySP Nilesh Rane and South SP Abhishek Dhania.
There workers had died in an explosion that took place in the ZACL premises on Tuesday afternoon.
Complete negligence on part of company & contractor: Nilkanth
Factories and Boilers Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar on Thursday said that there was complete negligence on the part of the contractor and the officials of the Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited (ZACL), which resulted in the deaths of three workers.
Halarnkar said that when the annual maintenance work was on at the ZACL premises on Tuesday afternoon, no site engineers and supervisor were present. There was complete negligence on their part, he said, adding that the government will take action against those involved as per the law.
According to the Minister, the contractor engaged the workers in gas welding when it should have been cold works. Nobody bothered to monitor the works which caused the explosion and deaths of three workers, he said.
GSIA questions F&B statement on compliance
Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) has written to Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers Vivek Marathe with copies to Chief Minister, Industries Minister and Minister for F&B, expressing disappointment on the comments made by the Chief Inspector that 70 per cent of the industries are not complying with the safety norms laid down under the Factories & Boilers Rules.
The GSIA statement said that it is common knowledge that accidents happen in spite of all precautions and safety norms. “We agree that action should be initiated as per rules if there were any lapses on the part of the company. But, to link this accident and to make a generalised statement that 70 per cent of the industries do not comply with safety norms is not appropriate on his part,” GSIA president Damodar Kochkar said.
The letter has requested the Chief Inspector to provide them with a list of industries coming under his jurisdiction and list of 70 per cent of industries not complying with safety norms and rules and regulations of Factories & Boilers, so they can assist him in getting compliances from the industries.
The statement stated that GSIA has informed Marathe that they receive complaints from industries that Factories & Boilers ask for various audits such as ventilation audit, illumination audit, health audit, where the consultants on the panel, who are from outside the State, charge exorbitant fees of around Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh where the audit takes hardly 3 to 4 hours.
“We have suggested to F& B that these anti-industry rules of Factories & Boilers should be revisited and convenient and easy mechanism for regulatory compliances should be provided,” the statement added.
