In the past five years, there have been 22 accidents inside the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) in Neyveli, Cuddalore, resulting in the deaths of 29 employees. The information was provided by the company in response to a Right To Information (RTI) query.
In the response dated November 10, the NLC said that since 2016, 21 accidents have taken place inside the plant premises, causing injuries or the death of employees, both direct and contract workers. In 2015, one accident occurred, while seven accidents took place in 2016 and six accidents in the year 2017. Two accidents happened in 2018, and in 2019, three accidents took place inside the plant premises. In 2020, NLC had two accidents as of the date of the RTI response and one accident after the response was furnished.
A total of nine direct employees and 20 contract workers have been killed between 2015 and 2020 due to the accidents inside the NLC. One of the contract workers was killed in an accident that happened on November 16 night.
The plant was in the news recently after a boiler exploded inside Unit-6 of the Thermal Power Station-II (TPS-II) injuring several workers. On July 1, another boiler exploded in Unit-5 of TPS-II, killing six workers on the spot. The boiler that exploded on July 1 was not operational and a fire followed the explosion, killing six and injuring at least 17 others. As per the data available from the company, nine direct employees and 13 contract workers were killed in both these accidents combined. An inquiry committee was set up by the company under the leadership of a retired Chairman of the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited to probe the cause of the accident.