Kurnool Granite Quarry Blast: Bodies Of 3 Odia Labourers To Reach Odisha Today

Hyderabad/Berhampur: The bodies of three Odia labourers, who were among the 15 killed in a high-intensity blast in a granite quarry in Aluru Mandal of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh on July 3 night, 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.

Meanwhile, the 10 bodies kept at the morgue at the Kurnool government hospital are yet to be identified. Since there are reports that more Odia labourers working at the quarry when the blast took place, the number of deaths is most likely to increase after the bodies are identified.

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.

Apart from the three deceased Odia labourers, 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.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom has descended on Jharedi and Nuagaon villages of the Rambha block as the family members were seen crying inconsolably over the untimely death of their kin.

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 has 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 the injured labourers, which has triggered resentment among the locals.

Till reports last came in, the Odisha government is yet to announce the ex-gratia to the family of the deceased and the injured labourers.

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.