Durgapur (West Bengal): Three contract workers died Friday in an accident in Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP). They were working on a maintenance job in a part of the unit in West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district, the plant authorities informed. Union leaders alleged that the contract workers died after inhaling toxic gas. The three workers fall unconscious while working at the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) converter.
The three were taken to a hospital where one was declared dead on arrival. The two other workers succumbed in course of treatment, the DSP said in a statement.
“A high-level enquiry committee has also been immediately constituted to investigate the incident. It will ascertain the root cause of the accident so that such incidents can be avoided in future,” the statement said.
DSP’s Hind Mazdoor Sangh union president Tapas Ray demanded adequate compensation for the family of the deceased. Others also alleged that there was substantial delay in taking the unconscious workers to the hospital. They said that if the victims had been rushed to the hospital, then their lives could have been saved.
DSP is a plant of the Steel Authority of India Limited, a central public sector enterprise.