Talcher Landslide: Senior Manager Of Bharatpur Coalmine Suspended

Talcher: Four days after the landslide in Bharatpur coalmine in Talcher in which four workers were killed and nine others seriously injured, the managing director of the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) on Saturday placed the senior manager under suspension.

Announcing this at a press meet, the MCL CMD said that the senior manager of Bharatpur coalmine VK Singh has been placed under suspension for dereliction of duty.

Talking about the mishap, he said he has ordered an investigation into the incident.

The incident had occurred between 11 pm and 11:30 pm on Tuesday when a portion of earth broke loose, trapping 13 workers and machinery at work.

While the body of Pupun Biswal of Kukudanga village was recovered a day after the incident, two bodies of Rajkishore Mahapatra (pump operator) of Sibarampur village and Rashmi Ranjan Behera (supervisor) of Gobara village were recovered on Friday. On Saturday, the rescue team recovered a severed hand and mutilated body parts of a labourer suspected to be those of Ramesh Das (security guard) of Lakeipasi village.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to each family of the deceased on Friday.