CM Announces Rs 2L Ex-Gratia For Kurnool Granite Quarry Blast Victims

Bhubaneswar: Expressing grief over the death of three Odia labourers in Kurnool granite quarry blast, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased.

The state government will also bear the treatment cost of the injured labourers, Naveen said, while wishing them speedy recovery.

The bodies of three Odia labourers, who were among the 15 killed in a high-intensity blast in the granite quarry at Aluru Mandal in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh on the night of August 3, will reach Rambha in Odisha’s Ganjam district on Monday evening.

The bodies of the deceased are being brought in an ambulance from the government hospital in Kurnool, sources said.

Since there are reports of more Odia labourers working at the quarry, when the blast took place, the number of deaths is most likely to go up once the bodies are identified, the sources added.

Of the three Odia labourers, bodies of Duryodhan Nahaka and Manoranjan Nahaka of Nuagaon village under Rambha police limits were identified a day after the mishap, and that of another deceased Bhima Nahaka of Jharedi village in Ganjam district ascertained on Sunday.

The condition of three seriously injured labourers, identified as Pandab Nahaka of Badagunjara village, Ramachandra of Bitanabala village and Rajendra of Rambha area of Ganjam district, admitted at a government hospital in Kurnool, is stated to be critical.

Following the incident, the Odisha government had sent a two-member fact-finding team, comprising the District Labour Welfare Officer and the Rural Labour Inspector of Ganjam district, to Kurnool on Sunday night for an on-the-spot investigation.

Expressing profound grief over the tragic incident, the Andhra Pradesh government had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the family of the deceased.

On the contrary, the Ganjam district administration has provided a meagre Rs 10,000 each to the family of the three deceased labourers and Rs 5000 each to the family of those injured, which has triggered resentment among the locals.

Meanwhile, the Kurnool police have detained Kailash Nahaka, a local contractor of Rambha area, who had taken the Odia labourers to work in the quarry. Besides, a case has been registered against the quarry owner Srinibas Choudhury, a local TDP leader.

There were nearly 30 workers at the quarry when the blast took place at around 8.15 pm. While most of the labourers sustained burn injuries, a few of them managed to escape unhurt.