January 6, 2014
Families of the workers who died in the Cooling Tower blast in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Visakha Refinery, on August 23 last year received compensation cheques of Rs 20 lakh each today.
Out of 28 workers who perished in the mishap one was an employee of HPCL and the rest were contract workers.
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Panabaka Lakshmi distributed the cheques to the families. She claimed that nowhere in the country such a big amount was given to contract workers as compensation.
Though initially they had decided to give around Rs three to four lakh as compensation but local elected representatives demanded more amount and finally it was settled at Rs 20 lakh, she said.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member T Subbarami Reddy demanded job in the refinery to a family member of the victims.
Ports and Infrastructure Minister Ganta Srinivas Rao lamented at the poor safety standards being maintained in the industries here whereas there were very less industry mishaps in Hyderabad which had more industrial units compared to Vizag.
He suggested regular safety audit of all the local industries to prevent such accidents.
HPCL Visakh Refinery Executive Director V V Narasimham termed the mishap as the rarest incident in the entire oil and gas industry in the world and said they had adapted the slogan no safety no job for the benefit of the workers.