Balco officials sent to judicial custody

RAIPUR - Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) vice-president Viral Mehta and two others, arrested for the Sep 23 collapse of an under-construction power plant chimney at Korba town which killed at least 41 workers, were Tuesday sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

As many as 41 disfigured bodies of contracted workers were retrieved from the crash site at Korba town in Chhattisgarh, some 250 km from here where the Balco power plant is coming up. Dozens of people engaged in the construction work are still missing.

Mehta, who was also project manager of the power plant, and two other officials attached with the project — associate general manager Deepak Narang and trainee engineer Anup Mahapatra — were arrested Monday night at Korba town.

The arrests were made under sections 304 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and furtherance of common intent.

“The Balco officials were presented before first class judicial magistrate in Korba, who rejected their bail plea and sent them to judicial custody till Nov 30,” said Korba district superintendent of police Ratanlal Dangi.

Vedanta Resources Plc-controlled Balco, in which the Indian government holds a 49 percent stake, awarded to Chinese firm Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (SEPCO) the task of constructing two thermal power plants of 600 MW each at Korba.

Later, SEPCO outsourced the work of the construction of a 257-metre chimney to Gannon Dunkerley.

Korba police registered a case against Balco soon after the accident that created wide resentment in Chhattisgarh against the aluminium major.