Four workers injured at Tata Steel project

Rajashree Dash Jajpur, June 29: There was trouble again at Tata Steel’s plant that is under construction at Kalinga Nagar area of the district on Sunday as four workers were injured, two of them seriously in a mishap in the project premises.The injured workers have been identified as Chandra Sekhar Singh(27), Soumya Ranjan Nayak(31), Prasanna Das(30) and Sinhgapal Singh(42).They all were working at the Steel Melting Shop (SMS) site of the plant along with many other workers when the mishap occurred, police said.The injured were rushed to the local government hospital at Danagadi and later shifted to a private hospital where condition of two was stated to be critical, they said.Police said, the mishap occurred at about 11.30 am on Sunday when a chain of a crane which was lifting iron angles (heavy objects) to at least forty feet high in the plant snapped and loaded iron angles fell on the workers who were at the site leading to at least four of them being injured.As the news of the mishap spread, thousands of workers of the private steel project congregated at the mishap site following which tension prevailed among the workers.The agitated workers were demanding safety and security to the workers on duty and good compensation for the injured.Police reached the spot soon and brought the situation under control.The injured were rushed to the local hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in Cuttack when their condition deteriorated, police said.“At least four workers sustained injuries after iron angles fell on them at SMS site of the plant.Two of the injured sustained grievous injuries and all the injured were shifted to a private hospital in Cuttack after preliminary treatment at the local government hospital,” said a senior police official.It is the second such incident in the Tata steel plant in just six days.At least four persons, including two private security personnel, were injured in the Tata Steels project premises at Kalinga Nagar during a clash between a section of agitating workers and company security officials on Monday last.The clash took place when several contractual workers who were staging a demonstration in front of the office of the vice-president (engineering) in the plant premises, demanding their overtime dues which have been pending for a period were beaten up with lathis by the security personnel engaged by the company.