A few hundred contractual workers along with a few TMC workers assembled outside the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plant at Haldia refinery, where a devastating fire on Tuesday afternoon claimed three lives of contractual workers and at least 44 workers were critically injured and demanded compensation for the affected families and treatment for the injured men.
State Irrigation Minister Soumen Mahapatra on reaching the spot said that five lakh rupees will be given as compensation from the state and five lakh rupees will be given from the agency that had put the contractual workers at work.
“This is a central government refinery but the central government is yet to give any figures of how many workers worked here. The state government had taken up the issue of compensation to stand by the affected families,” said Mahapatra.
The central government should have established a hospital nearby as hundreds of workers work in the refinery and are also prone to any emergencies, an agitated worker said.
“At least 38 workers are sent for treatment in Kolkata. Even if they are taken through a green corridor, it takes at least one and a half hours to reach Kolkata from here. They are serious and anything can happen. The central government should take this issue up,” mentioned an agitating worker.
Notably, according to IOC, shutdown and maintenance work is going on at some of the major units in the refinery where suddenly the fire broke out on Tuesday.
“The senior management of Indian Oil is continuously monitoring the situation. Indian Oil shall provide all necessary assistance, relief and adequate compensation to the affected workers. A high-level committee from Delhi is already on site for inquiring into the cause of the incident,” read the IOC statement.
According to IOC sources, a team of senior IOC officials from Delhi reached the refinery. A three-member expert committee started a probe into the accident. Meanwhile, a state forensic team also visited the spot on Wednesday and will probe the incident.
According to Tapas Mukherjee, deputy managing director of DESUN hospital, 17 patients were admitted who are critical and five of them are seriously critical.
“We are trying our best to make everyone survive. Along with 80 percent burn on the face and lower abdomen, some patients even have lungs congestion due to inhaling some toxic chemicals. We cannot say anything before 72 hours,” said Mukherjee.
Releasing a statement, Medica hospital said, “At Medica, we have received 10 patients from Indian Oil Corporation so far with 15-25 percent burns. We have accommodated them in our specialized Burn ICU Unit with a dedicated clinical and nursing team for round the clock monitoring. We have formed a Medical Board team with plastic surgeons, Senior Consultant Critical Care and Pulmonologists.”
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri taking to Twitter said, "Compensation & best medical care will be provided to all those who have been affected. A detailed investigation has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident."
