HPCL Contract Workers’ Union on Sunday claimed 10 contract workers were missing after the refinery blast even as a spokesman of HPCL denied it.
When contacted, the spokesman said they had not found any body at the time of clearing the debris from the sump of the collapsed cooling tower till late in the evening on Sunday. The debris clearance was on verge of completion.
Union president M. Jaggi Naidu and CPI (M) State secretariat member Ch. Narsinga Rao said as per their information, 10 persons were still trapped under the debris.
They said their survival chance was also bleak. Remains of six contract workers, which were recovered from the sump, were burnt beyond recognition.
INTUC district general secretary Neerukonda Ramachandra Rao had a dig at Union Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily for not announcing adequate ex gratia for the contract workers. He said there was no clarity on the compensation announced by him and said the insurance claims had also been included in the sum declared by Mr. Moily.
He also regretted his failure to announce compensation to those injured in the blast. Free treatment was not a gesture. In any accident, the management takes up the responsibility to provide the best possible treatment. The trauma and burns suffered by them had to be adequately compensated, Mr. Rao said.
