In the second mishap in a span of three days, a fire broke out at the Steel Melt Shop-2 of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in the early hours Monday.
However, no casualty was reported in the fire that was doused at 4.30 a.m. after a two-hour operation, as none was present at the time when it broke out in the Filter House Building, the company official said.
‘Production not hit’
“A minor fire mishap occurred in the Filter House Building near the canteen area of SMS-2 at around 2.30 a.m. on Monday. The CISF fire brigade swung into action and doused the flames. Neither injury nor any equipment damage was reported,” A company spokesman said.
The production was not affected and the cause for the mishap is being investigated, he added.
The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is ramping up production under the ₹4,000-crore modernisation and capacity augmentation programme to increase its capacity from 6.3 million tonne to 7.3 million tonne per annum.
While stating that the two mishaps were not so alarming, recognised union president J. Ayodhyaram urged the management to step up safety apparatus at the plant.
Incident creates panic
The incident created a panic among the employees as it’s the second mishap to be occurred at VSP in a span of three days. After leakage of hot metal, a blast was reported in the Blast Furnace-3 on Friday.
However, the management quickly restored the hot metal production after carrying out repairs within 36 hours.
