Lucknow: The families of labourers working at NTPC’s Unchahar plant have launched a protest outside the complex, alleging that many more bodies are buried under the ash and rubble inside the plant but the authorities are not doing anything to retrieve them.
The toll in the massive explosion in the boiler at the state-run NTPC's plant has risen to 26. More than 100 are injured, with many of them suffering grievous burn injuries.
Speaking to ETV, protesting labourers and families claimed that several workers who were working inside the plant when the blast happened are still unaccounted for. “Our identity cards are also being forcibly taken by the administration,” a labourer alleged.
The district magistrate and SSP rushed to the spot and tried to assuage the protesters. The NTPC has initiated a probe to ascertain the reasons behind the blast.
In a statement, the state-run power giant said that at unit number six of its Unchahar plant, there was a sudden abnormal sound at 20-meter elevation around 3.30 on Wednesday afternoon.
There was an opening in corner number two from which gases and steam "escaped" affecting the people working around the area, the central public sector undertaking said. It added that around 80 people were rushed to the NTPC Hospital, most of whom were discharged after first-aid.
However, there are still several dozen injured people, who are being treated in all the districts hospitals and some have been referred to Lucknow.
Three seriously injured AGM-level employees were also sent to AIIMS Delhi in an air ambulance on Thursday morning. A green corridor was created by Lucknow police from Medical College to the Lucknow Airport to transfer them to the airport.
Meanwhile, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has taken a break from his ongoing 'Navsarjan Yatra' in poll-bound Gujarat and is visiting Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh to meet the families of victims of the explosion.
Raebareli is the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has expressed shock at the "terrible tragedy". While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is abroad, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma will be visiting Rae Bareli Thursday.
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