Laxity found in ensuring safety by SAIL at Bhilai plant: CAG report
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Last Updated: Feb 10, 2021, 02:51 PM IST
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Synopsis
The report was done to assess the compliance to stipulated Act/ Rules/ Regulations and Standard Operating Practices (SOP) and whether social responsibilities related to environmental and pollution control, safety standards and application of the best industrial practices were followed, the CAG report released on Tuesday said.
Agencies
SAIL for laxity in ensuring safety measures which led to the blast at the company s Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in 2018, in which 14 people had lost their lives.
On October 9, 2018, an explosion occurred at around 10:30 am in a gas pipeline connected to the coke oven section of the plant in Bhilai town.
State-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) neither applied technical due diligence nor conducted techno-commercial study to assess viability before the allotment of its captive coal blocks at Parbatpur and Sitanala, audit report no 18 of 2020 of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG) said today. These two blocks, which had to be subsequently surrendered, hence resulted in the amount spent on development of the same infructuous, examined the audit. The audit released today examined records of all captive mines of SAIL for the period 2014-19 to assess the management of captive mines and compliance with safety and environmental laws. The report pointed out that since the company’s iron ore production level, at Dalli, Rajhara and Barsua mines were lower than planned, it resulted in transfer of the key raw material from distantly located mines by the Bhilai Steel Plant and Rourkela Steel Plant leading to extra expenditure on freight differential.