Bareilly: Three workers died and four others are in serious condition after they entered the ‘flow equalization tank’ to clean it at BL Agro Private Limited, which manufactures Bail Kolhu mustard oil, here on Tuesday morning. The victims’ kin later protested outside the factory demanding strict action against the owner and officials of the factory. Forces from three police stations were rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control. Additional district magistrate (city) RB Pandey ordered a magisterial enquiry into the matter.
Later in the day, the families of the dead workers settled the matter with the factory management after compensation and other benefits were given to them. No police complaint has been fined. A senior administrative official, who wished not to be named, told TOI, “The families of the deceased agreed to settle the matter after they were offered Rs 50,000 cash, a cheque of Rs 8 lakh and monthly pension of Rs 8,000, along with the sum insured under the insurance scheme.”
All the workers fell unconscious while cleaning the tank and were rushed to a private medical college where three of them — all married — died during treatment. The condition of four others is critical and are still unconscious.
BL Agro is located in Parsa Khera Industrial area in Bareilly. In the morning, Praveen Kumar (30), Prabhat Kumar (31), Nitin Kumar (30), Hemraj (35), Neeraj Yadav (31), Vijay Kumar (25) and Mohammed Yaseen (age not known) entered the 20-ft-deep tank to clean it and fell unconscious. Yaseen, Neeraj and Vijay were declared dead in hospital. All the victims were residents of nearby villages.
Factory’s administrator Prem Babu said, “The cleaning of the equalization tank is a routine process. As the cleaning was scheduled for Tuesday, the tank’s cap was opened on Monday evening itself. The safety team observed that the smell of the gasses was more than the normal level and told the operator to postpone the cleaning. The operator ignored the warning and sent the labourers inside the tank. Two teams are trying to find out what has happened inside the tank. We have completed all the formalities for compensation and all the labourers were covered under insurance.”
Bareilly SSP Rohit Singh Sajwan told TOI, “Doctors say the four workers who are still critical suffered from hypoxia (a condition where the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level) and are on oxygen support. The bodies of three workers have been sent for postmortem.”
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