Sigachi Industries refutes reactor blast as cause of tragedy, confirms 38 dead
Rescue operations continued on Wednesday, with two more bodies recovered from the debris, bringing the official death toll to 38. Another 10 workers are still unaccounted for. Meanwhile, the company announced that it will offer an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore to the kin of each deceased.
The committee, chaired by B Venkateshwar Rao, Emeritus Scientist at CSIR-IICT, has been tasked with identifying the causes of the blast and recommending measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The order to set up the four-member panel was issued on Wednesday by M Dana Kishore, Principal Secretary, Labour and Factories department.
The committee, which includes T Pratap Kumar (chief scientist, CSIR-IICT), Surya Narayana (chief scientist, CSIR-IICT), and Santosh Ghuge (safety officer, CSIR-NCL, Pune), has one month to submit its report.
The explosion, which occurred around 9.20 am on June 30 while microcrystalline cellulose powder was being manufactured for use as a binding agent in pharmaceuticals, caused extensive damage to the facility. At the time of the incident, 143 workers were present on-site.
Sigachi MD and CEO Amit Raj Sinha, who visited the site on Wednesday, said that external experts had inspected the remaining equipment to help determine the cause of the explosion. Internal and third-party assessments are underway, and findings will be shared with government investigators, he said.
Collector P Pravinya confirmed that blood samples from six persons have been sent for DNA analysis. So far, 18 bodies have been handed over to families, she said.
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