The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Ltd (NLCIL) to pay Rs 5 crore as an interim compensation for a boiler blast on its premises in Tamil Nadu on July 1. The mishap that took place last Wednesday killed six men and injured 17 others.
The NGT in its order, told the Neyveli Lignite Corporation to pay a compensation of Rs 30 lakh each to the kin of all the deceased. The bench also told the company to pay Rs 5 lakh each for those injured and still requiring hospitalisation and Rs 1 lakh to three people who had been discharged.
In the order, NGT said, “The industrial unit should deposit the amount of Rs 5 crore with the District Magistrate, Cuddalore within two weeks from July 9 to meet the claim for compensation as an ad hoc arrangement. If any amount has already been paid towards compensation, it may be adjusted on proof being shown to the District Magistrate. The amount of interim compensation may be disbursed by transfer to the bank accounts of the heirs of the deceased and the injured.”
The NGT has also constituted a team with members of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai, besides the Cuddalore District Magistrate to visit the site and ascertain what happened.
On July 1, the workers at the plant heard a loud sound at 10 am and a fire broke out from the boiler, which led to the deaths.
In a report, a committee constituted by the NLCIL had earlier said that the reason for the mishap was because, “The cleaning of lignite dust deposition inside the horizontal box girder might have been done with the help of metal scrappers and due to friction, the lignite particles got ignited and due to combustion within the girder, the workers who were inside might have suffered and suffocated,” leading to the fatal accident.