Congress demands CBI probe into Bhushan Steel Plant mishap

Bhubaneswar, Nov 15: Holding

government and company authorities responsible for Wednesday's explosion and fire at a private steel plant in Dhenkanal,

on Friday demanded a

into the incident in which one person was killed and around 15 others were injured.

The demand was made after a four-member team sent by Pradesh Congress Committee President (OPCC), Jaydev Jena visited the mishap site in Bhushan Steel Plant complex located at Meramundali.

The team, led by state Congress vice-president Shivanand Ray, said that company authorities and Odisha government were fully responsible for the mishap, according to a statement from OPCC here.

The party said a CBI inquiry should be conducted to ascertain the exact number of casualties in the mishap and cause of the incident as proper information in this regard was not made available.

The team found that no proper record about employees and workers and their names and address was maintained and therefore, no clear picture regarding casualty figure was available, it said.

It was found that labour laws, Factory Act and Environment Act were violated, OPCC said adding truth would come out only through a CBI probe.

Meanwhile, several other political parties including BJP, CPI-M and CPI demanded complete shut down of the plant till foolproof safety measures are introduced in the steel unit.

PTI