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It was raining haevily in the first week of July 2012, when Radheshyam Dhruv got a call past midnight. It was from the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) pump house, where a small fault required immediate attention.
Dhruv (name changed to protect his identity) was a small contractor attending to minor maintenance work in the plant. BSP also happens to be the highest profit-making entity of Steel Authority of India Ltd, in Durg district of Chhattisgarh. Amid heavy rains, he rushed there and rectified the fault.
He doesn't get such calls now. "I am now rendered jobless. For, the BSP management had abolished the rate contract system about a year ago," he said. Under the system, small contractors were assigned maintenance work in different sections of the plant. The management then felt that instead of hiring many small contractors, it would be better to assign the work to a big contractor, to cut the cost.
However, what has happened is that the pluses of the old system have gone, without a replacement. "The proposals of big contractors that run into crores (of rupees) could not be approved easily from the higher management and the maintenance work was severely affected," explained a senior official, on condition of anonymity. The proposals of small contractors were in a few lakhs of rupees each and the authorities did not find it difficult to approve. It was an effective and convenient system of maintenance, he said.
The BSP management did not respond to queries sent by email.
In sum, small contractors had been denied work but the big contractors still awaited approval. The result was that maintenance work had been severely affected. This was one reason for the tragedy on June 12, when the header of Pump House-2 that supplied water to the Gas Cleaning Plant (GCP) of the blast furnaces had ruptured. As the water supply to the GCP was stopped, there was a sudden loss in water pressure to the GCP and blast furnace gas from the scrubbers entered the water pipeline. The gas, reported to be a combination of methane and carbon monoxide, started leaking from the ruptured part of the pipeline. And, six staffers, including two deputy general managers attending the breakdown, died.
The accident is reported to be the biggest in the history of the plant. And, yet, the rate contract system is not restored and nor have big contractors been awarded the maintenance work in the plant. The preliminary reports suggested the pipeline in Pump House-2 was in a bad shape because of lack of maintenance.
"The maintenance work has been in bad shape," says Gajendra Singh, a former trade union leader. The machines are old and the employees under pressure for production, he said. Instead of renovating the older plants, he said, the management seemed to be concentrating on capacity expansion.
After the Pump-2 accident, the ruptured part had been replaced. "It is only a temporary repairing that will not help; the plant requires capital investment for a permanent remedy," said Singh. "The morale of employees is low, as they are developing a feeling that no one is bothered about their safety."
After the accident, the management has installed a gas monitor with a hooter. The gas would affect humans only if it crosses 400 ppm. There is always some gas in the atmosphere and it got diverted towards the hooter with a change in wind flow around 10 days earlier. The hooter went off, creating a panic; yet the monitor showed the level of gas at only 70 ppm.
KILLER GAS
Sequences of events on June 12
Around 5.30 pm: B K Singh, deputy general manager (DGM) of Bhilai Steel Plant, rushes to pump house-2 after reports of rupture in pipeline carrying water to the gas cleaning plant of blast furnaces; DGM N K Katariya and other employees go with him
5.45 pm: Blast furnace gas from the scrubbers gets into the water pipeline, and starts a leak; employees attending to the breakdown affected as gas reported to be combination of methane and carbon monoxide
6 pm: CISF jawans nearby see employees collapsing; some jawans also collapse
6.15 pm: Rescue operations begin; fire tenders and CISF jawans start evacuating unconscious employees
6.30 pm: Thirty-two employees admitted to hospital; doctors declare 6 dead and 26 injured
