Four labourers, including a woman, were killed and several others injured after a concrete blast furnace structure collapsed at a private steel plant in Jamuria, West Burdwan, on Saturday evening, triggering rescue operations, protests by local residents and separate probes by the plant management and police.
The workers were engaged in construction at unit number 3 of the power plant area of Shyam SEL & Power Limited, located within the Jamuria Industrial Complex. The structure collapsed around 7pm while construction was in progress, according to sources quoted in the report.
The deceased were identified as Sukanta Pal, 35, Balaram Das, 40, Bulbul Barua, 49, and Mohammad Akbar, 40. Pal and Das lived within the jurisdiction of Jamuria police station. Akbar was from Murshidabad, while Barua was from Assam.
A steel plant source said the workers were trapped under the debris after the structure gave way. The factory management began a rescue operation, with local police, fire brigade officials and the district administration’s disaster management team joining the effort.
The injured workers were taken to a hospital in nearby Asansol. Four were declared dead on arrival, while those with minor injuries were released after receiving primary treatment. One critically injured worker was shifted to a private hospital in Durgapur and placed on ventilation, according to sources.
Pranav Kumar, the Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner, and Jamuria BJP MLA Bijan Mukherjee reached the site and monitored the situation. The incident also drew residents to the plant gate, where they held an agitation against the factory management and alleged that adequate safety measures had not been put in place.
Tensions rose when police attempted to clear the protesters, leading to a scuffle between the police and agitators. Mukherjee intervened and helped pacify the villagers, according to the report.
The collapse has brought the safety of workers involved in industrial construction into immediate focus. The incident occurred at a site where a major concrete structure was being built inside an operating steel and power plant complex, involving workers from West Bengal, Assam and Murshidabad. The supplied report does not specify the contractor responsible for the construction, the number of workers present at the site or whether work had passed any formal structural or safety inspection.
The private steel plant authority has started an internal probe and announced monetary compensation to support the last rites of the deceased workers. The police have also begun an investigation into the collapse. Further details on the findings of both probes and any action arising from them were not available in the supplied report.
