NEW DELHI, July 1: The death toll in Monday’s massive explosion at the Sigachi Industries Private Limited, a pharmaceutical unit in Pashamylaram near Hyderabad, rose to 44 on Tuesday as a majority of the victims were trapped under the production unit housing the reactor when it collapsed.
The authorities said the casualty figure may still climb up as rescue and recovery efforts continued at the site of the explosion.
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy instructed officials to provide compensation of ₹1 crore to families of the workers who died in the blast and ₹ 10 lakh to those severely injured. As immediate relief, officials were directed to provide ₹1 lakh each to the families of the workers who died and ₹50,000 each to the injured.
The Chief Minister along with Health Minister C. Damodar Raja Narsimha, Labour Minister Vivek Venkataswamy, IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy inspected the site and the rescue operations on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a special forensic team from Osmania General Hospital has been brought in to assist with post mortems and DNA sample collection. So far, autopsies have been completed on 15 bodies, with only four victims identified.
The unit owners said the blast had damaged the core manufacturing infrastructure and the operations at the facility had been halted temporarily.
The district police have registered an FIR in connection with the explosion. Superintendent of Police Paritosh Pankaj said on Tuesday. “We have registered an FIR in this case under Sections 105, 110 and 117 of BNS. The investigation is on,” the official said. Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with the punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Section 110 deals with the attempt to commit culpable homicide, while Section 117 deals with the offense of “Voluntarily causing grievous hurt.”
The Chief Minister said the government would “identify those responsible for the incident and take stringent action.” He said that the state government will also bring a transparent policy to prevent such incidents in the future. He also said never before the State witnessed a tragedy that claimed so many lives. Officials confirmed that 143 individuals were present in the unit at the time of the explosion.
(Manas Dasgupta)
