Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday met those injured in the boiler explosion at the NTPC plant in Rae Bareli.
Yogi was on a three-day tour of Mauritius to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas and returned on Saturday, after which he met the victims at the Civil Hospital, Trauma Centre and SGPGI. The CM also met with the team of doctors attending to the injured and asked them to ensure proper treatment.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the incident rose to 32, which included NTPC’s AGM-level officer Sanjeev Sharma. Initial reports suggest that the explosion took place after a steam pipe of the boiler plant bursted.
The Rae Bareli administration has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident, while the Centre has constituted a probe team headed by the NTPC executive director.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday had issued a notice to the Yogi government, seeking a detailed report in six weeks. The NHRC also instructed the state government to avoid any kind of negligence in this regard and provide adequate financial assistance to the relatives of the deceased.
Initial probe by the NTPC reveals that the duct evacuating the bottom ash was not functioning properly. A huge piece of coagulated ash, or clinkers, appears to have bounced in the furnace, causing imbalance in the combustion and subsequently the pressure. The pressure inside the boiler, which should be maintained at barely five mm water columns (mmwc), shot up by over 40 times to around 250 mmwc, thus causing the explosion.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, NTPC regional executive director (North) Virendra Singh Rathi said, “There should be a fine balance in air movement inside the boiler for proper pressure. In case of any imbalance, the system trips and fans start reducing the pressure. In this case it does not seem to have happened. We are waiting for the final inquiry report.”
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