Part- III of CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER VEDANTA’S KILLER CHIMNEY at Korba Part –III

Face Saving Exercise of Vedanta’s Balco falls flat on its face

CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER

VEDANTA’S KILLER CHIMNEY at Korba

Part –III

By Pravin Patel


In this massive tragedy resulted in loss of lives of many poor workers, caused in the manmade tragedy burying many workers alive in the rubble of the under construction chimney that caved in and collapsed after it was constructed up to a height of 253 meters. first of its kind in the entire country so far at Vedanta Resources plc owned Balco, it is expected that all the three corporations BALCO, SEPCO & GDCL who are duty bound to behave as a responsible corporate citizens have failed to do so. Though it was required that the officials of all the three companies should have stayed at site and put in all their resources to rescue the workers from the rubble, they preferred to fled away is the proof of their irresponsible corporate social behaviors.

On the contrary, they tried to save their skin, even at the cost of selling falsehood and playing blame game, particularly by Vedanta group of companies. 89 member Chinese staff of Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), China, even made their best effort to escape from the country, which ultimately failed as the Immigration authorities across the countries were already alerted that a number of Chinese employees had fled Korba. Officials at airports were asked not to allow these 89 Chinese to leave the country. Four Chinese engineers who made attempts to flee through IGI airport at New Delhi and later again few more made futile attempt to leave the country from Kolkatta on flight to Singapore were failed by the vigilant immigration officials. None of the officials of GDCL were in sight at Korba with whom we could talk.

False hood of selling the theory of “Excessive rains and Lightning”

Though none of the officials of all the three corporations were seen at site when it was needed the most, Balco tried to show case as if they are very busy with relief and rescue work. It makes us laugh at their repeated efforts to cover up the crime committed by them by their act of criminal negligence in carelessly constructing the ill fated chimney that killed many poor workers. Story of “Excessive rains and lightning as the cause of tragedy” was not only created instantly but all out efforts were made to show case the manmade tragedy as that of a natural calamity right from Vedanta Resources plc, Sterlite Industries at Mumbai and also at Korba by Balco.

"A probable reason for the incident appears to be the excessive rains and lightning," said a statement from Vedanta Resources plc...

As per the news published in The Hindu, the very next day of the chimney collapsed at Korba, Sterlite Industries, a part of Vedanta Group issued a statement to the National Stock Exchange at Mumbai - “A probable reason for the incident appears to be the excessive rains and lightning at Korba,'' and also it says further that “The exact cause for this will, however, be ascertained only after a detailed investigation is concluded''



But much before the investigation the theory of "Excessive rains and lightning" was also confirmed which is seen in the statement of Mr. Gunjan Gupta, CEO, BALCO at Korba, who after the Chimney collapsed stated similarly. Even he went one step ahead by putting in advertisements that were published in local newspapers that heavy rains and lightning caused chimney collapsed and is a natural disaster.

Mr. B.K. Srivastava, Chief of Corporate Communication of BALCO also tried to sell us the story of lighting and heavy rain. On being questioned, he stated that he has never seen such heavy rains and lighting in his entire life as he saw on that day. When asked that there are allegations of using sub standard material and poor quality of workmanship has caused the tragedy, he denied it and stated they believe in quality of workmanship.

Controversies created by BALCO to sale falsehood from day one.

He even tried to convince us with the opinion of one Mr. Jagdish Prasad, an expert in Civil engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Roorkee, who visited the site on their invitation. Mr. Srivatatava stated to us that even that civil engineering expert is also of the opinion that due to lightning and heavy rains, the Chimney could have collapsed. Later it came out that Prof. S.N.Sinha of IIT Delhi also shared similar views in his three page report

FACE SAVING EXERCISE TO ESCAPE PENAL ACTION

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Roorkee both are premier institute of India having a very high reputation. Their names have been drawn into a controversy over its civil engineering experts allegedly drawing inference — much before completion of any scientific studies — that "lightning" was the cause of Bharat Aluminum Company Limited (BALCO) power plant's chimney collapse.

Engineers from other companies who were at the spot engaged in the rescue work are of the opinion that instead of open cast method, pile foundation seems to have been done which has caved in. Experts from other power plants like NTPC and State Electricity Board have also stated that they have never heard of lightning striking down the industrial chimneys any where in the country. They are of the opinion that insufficient depth of the foundation, design failure, inadequacies in concrete ration, reinforcement and not doing the curing are also stated to be major reasons.

Korba S.P. Mr. Dangi is stated to have issued notices to BALCO and GDCL to produce the reports prepared by their respective consultants. Notice was also being issued to IIT Delhi, asking it to explain when and where they collected the samples and to explain the basis on which its expert drew such an inference. Later it has come out that Prof. Jagdish Prasad visited the site as the consultant for BALCO and Prof. Sinha as the consultant for GDCL. Professor Dr S N Sinha’s three-page report draws inference on the basis of information supplied by his client, that the chimney collapsed due to lightning,” Earlier, Professor Jagdish Prasad had also come to a similar conclusion at Korba. While Prof Sinha could not be contacted for comment, Prof Prasad is stated to have said, “There may be other reasons, including poor quality material and design problems. Process of testing and analysis of samples collected from the site are still on. It could take about three months to reach a final conclusion.”

Who are these Prof. Jagdish Prasad and Prof. S.N.Sinha?

Prof Jagdish Prasad Jain is a civil engineer, working as a freelancer, visited the accident site as a consultant for BALCO, where as Prof Sinha was a consultant for M/s GDCL.

Korba SP Ratanlal Dangi wrote to the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee asking him to furnish all documents and other details on the basis of which its civil engineering expert Prof. Jagdish Prasad made a public statement that the Chimney collapsed
“due to lightning” and the other chimney was in perfect shape.” “When police investigation was progressing, stated Korba S.P. Mr. Dangi.

While IIT Delhi Professor Dr S N Sinha’s three-page report draws inference on the basis of information supplied by his client that the chimney collapsed due to lightning, IIT Roorkee Professor Jagdish Prasad also shares similar conclusion. While Prof Sinha could not be contacted for comment, Prof Prasad is stated to have said, “There may be other reasons, including poor quality material and design problems. Process of testing and analysis of samples collected from the site are still on. It could take about three months to reach a final conclusion.”
Bubble of falsehood finally bursts.

No lightning strike, it was careless work

States the Report of National Institute of Technology, Raipur.

State Authorities had entrusted National Institute of Technology, Raipur (NIT) the task to investigate the matter of reasons of collapse of chimney. NIT completed its investigations and submitted its report in the first week of January, 2010, exactly after 103 days of the collapse of the ill fated chimney. In its investigation report, prepared by four civil engineering experts at NIT, they dismissed the theory that lightning could have caused the chimney collapse at the BALCO plant. The report also says that no melted rebars were found at the site and postmortem reports of victims did not indicate death due to burning.

In its conclusion, the experts said the soil investigation had not been carried out properly and careless, poor construction practice and workmanship were noticed in the construction of piles. “There has been a construction blunder in pile and pile cap connection. Improper cement content in the concrete mix and non-availability of proper instruments for temperature measurement were also noticed,”

The actions of BALCO can be described as a face saving exercise to put a veil on their faces by labeling the manmade tragedy or to bluntly say, the corporate manslaughter for which they are directly responsible but to save their face and escape to show off to what they did at for the world major Vedanta and to escape from the responsibilities from the consequences of the chimney collapse. The expert committee of NIT Raipur has held all three companies -- BALC0, GDCL and China's Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) -- prima facie responsible.

Mr. Vivek Sharma, Police officer who investigates the matter had earlier stated that a full investigation would be carried out, including the questioning of senior Balco officials, with the possibility of criminal charges if there was evidence of negligence.

On 4th January, 2010, Korba Police filed 1,000-page charge sheet in the court of Judicial Magistrate Saroj Nandadas, named four top company officials and engineers as accused in the state's worst industrial accident. While Three Balco officials, One GDCL official were already in judicial custody, three Chinese staffs of SEPCO were also arrested after the filing of charge sheet.

END OF PART - III

Note: Part IV / V will cover Judicial custody of the officials charge sheeted and related matter and also our visit to the families of those who died in the tragedy” & unanswered questions.