Police tighten grip at Balco

The administration in Korba is taking steps to ensure that executives of the Chinese firm involved in the accident at the Balco power plant stay on to assist in the probe.

The administration in Korba is taking steps to ensure that executives of the Chinese firm involved in the accident at the Balco power plant stay on to assist in the probe.

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The investigation into the chimney collapse at the plant will begin in the next couple of days.

Chinese firm Shandong Electric Power Construction (Sepco) had bagged the contract to construct a 275-metre chimney at the Balco power plant in Korba, 220 km north-east of Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.

“As the rescue operations continued, we had kept in mind the aspect that none of the Chinese staff working for Balco fled India. The Chhattisgarh police had written to the Ministry of External Affairs and gave various details including information on their passports and visa numbers. Their presence will be needed during the investigation,” Korba
Superintendent of Police (SP) Ratanlal Dangi told HT on Sunday.

Dangi said that the police had sent out an alert on Chinese nationals fleeing but none of them had so far been detained for questioning. All airports in India had been put on alert by the external affairs ministry, the police told Hindustan Times.

Besides, the police are tightly guarding the state’s exit points till the investigation is completed.

After getting the contract from Balco, Sepco assigned the task of constructing the chimney to Delhi-based Gannon Dunkerley Company Ltd (GDCL). The chimney collapsed when its height reached 240-metres.

“We will send our team to Delhi and Kolkata to track down GDCL employees involved in constructing the chimney, which collapsed on September 23,” Dangi said.

Charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder have been slapped against the Balco management, Sepco and GDCL. It is non-bailable offence.

A case of culpable homicide is registered when there is grave negligence but no motive to kill.

The $8 billion Vedanta Resources group, led by Anil Agarwal, took control of Balco in 2001 from the central government.