Dahej boiler blast: NGT slaps penalty of ₹25cr on Gujarat-based company

The National Green Tribunal on Monday (June 8) slapped a penalty of ₹25 crore on a company where a huge fire caused by a blast in the boiler at Dahej in Bharuch district of Gujarat on June 3 resulted in the death of eight workers.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed Yashashvi Rasayan Pvt. Ltd to deposit an amount minus the statutory compensation/ex gratia payments already made to the victims, if any, with the District Magistrate, Bharuch within 10 days from today.

Liability of the Company is strict and absolute for the loss caused by its activities, the NGT said.

“The amount may be disbursed by the District Magistrate by making disbursement plan. Disbursement plan may consider safeguards to ensure that amount reaches the beneficiaries and is not misappropriated by any intermediary,” the bench said.

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The NGT also constituted a six-member committee headed by former High Court judge Justice B C Patel and sought a report in a month.

On June 3, eight workers died and nearly 40 were injured after a boiler in an agro-chemical factory exploded.

Collector MD Modia said the fire had engulfed the unit in the special economic zone in Dahej and residents of Lakhi and Luvara villages located near the factory were being evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the presence of poisonous chemicals near the factory.

The explosion was tremendous that some people in the neighbouring Bhavnagar district too could hear it, The Times of India reported. Around 15 fire tenders rushed to spot to douse the flame, the report added.

The mishap comes a month after a gas leakage at the LG Polymers plant Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on May 7 that claimed 12 lives and injured over 500. Styrene vapour leaked from tanks in the unit that had been left idle for several weeks due to the COVID-19 lockdown.