Mumbai: Three executive directors of ONGC have been suspended as part of a high-level committee inquiry into last month’s barge tragedy which claimed .
Last month, ONGC Barge P305 with 216 people on board sank off the Mumbai Coast when Cyclone Tauktae was hurtling through the Western coastline of the country.
UPDATED: May 28, 2021 18:52 IST
Oil rig personnel rescued by the Indian Navy in Mumbai on May 18 (Indian Navy/AP)
The gloomy portent to India’s worst-ever offshore disaster was a series of satellite images. On May 15, meteorologists in the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Delhi didn’t have the slightest doubt what the INSAT-3D imagery was showing them. The menacing low-pressure vortex they saw heading north just off India’s west coast was an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’, likely one of the biggest cyclones to hit the west coast in decades. The IMD alert that day sounded the warning as the cyclone had begun barrelling towards Gujarat, right over the vital oil fields of Mumbai High operated by the petroleum ministry PSU, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC).
The deadly Cyclone Tauktae had made landfall in Gujarat on May 17. This cyclone has been recorded as the fifth strongest ever to emanate froc sm the Arabian Sea in recent years.State and local authorities were pressed into action to .
Afcons will give between 3.5 million rupees ($48,065) and 7.5 million rupees to families of those deceased and the offshore contractor said it would also establish a trust to support the education of their children.
“The families of the deceased would receive a total compensation equivalent to balance period of service up to 10 years salaries through a combination of ex gratia pay-outs and insurance compensation,” said a statement from Afcons Infrastructure.
ONGC said it would also pay compensation of 200,000 rupees to the families of the deceased workers and 100,000 rupees compensation to survivors.
However, unconfirmed local media reports claimed families of those impacted are considering legal action as they believe compensation of up to 30 million rupees ($412,000) could be awarded.