Activists demand probe into Bhushan-Prem Patnaik links Activists demand probe into Bhushan-Prem Patnaik links

OST Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Nov 21:

In a first since the fire mishap at the Bhushan steel plant at Kantabania in Dhenkanal on November 13, civil society members dragged Prem Patnaik, chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s elder brother, into the picture attributing the state government’s failure to act against the errant company to the cosy relationship between the senior Patnaik and the company owner.

“Since Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s big brother Prem Patnaik and the BSL owner are friends, no stringent action has been taken against the company even a week after the mishap,” said WHRPA president Abhinna Kumar Hota addressing a demonstration organised under the banner of World Human Rights Protection Association (WHRPA) near Raj Bhavan here on Thursday.

The rally demande a CBI probe into the Bhusan Steel Plant in Dhenkanal that has already claimed over a hundred lives since its inception.

Claiming that more than 80 workers have been killed in the blast that occurred at furnace No.-II, Naba Kishore Mohanty, a trade union leader, slammed the state government for its ‘secret understanding’ with the Bhusan authorities.

Speaking on the occasion, eminent trade union activist Mayadhar Nayak decried the Government’s inefficiency in making public the complete list of workers deployed at the site on the day of the mishap.

“It is matter a great concern that a private company is ignoring orders of the District Collector and other administrative officials to give details about the persons working at the blast furnace-II on the fateful day and the State Governmen, instead of taking stringent action, is acting as an agent of Bhusan,” rued Nayak.

The association also submitted a memorandum to the Governor urging him to ask the state government to order a CBI probe into the matter, besides initiating criminal proceedings against the persons responsible for the tragedy as well as closing the plant till all the safety norms are put in place.

Two workers were killed and 17 more injured in the latest mishap in the plant on Novemebr 13.