The death toll in the boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar plant in Rae Bareli will almost certainly rise given how burns tend to be more life-threatening. There’s no final word yet on whether more workers were trapped inside. Only a great engineering failure or lack of industrial culture in following strict safety protocols could have led to such a tragedy. While industrial accidents aren’t unknown, one of this magnitude happens more when safety protocols are ignored or emergency measures not taken in time. Only a proper technical investigation can shed light on why the boiler pipe burst and if it’s true that some workers who sensed excess pressure building up couldn’t send a warning in time to shut down the system or sound the alarm.
The crowding at a big thermal plant near the site of heavy boilers and furnaces may also be peculiar to India, where no area is considered too sensitive for a gathering of people, whose presence may not be necessary for operations. Why were people near a unit said to be on trial, or, as some allege, hastily put together. Over 100 people were affected by hot gases and steam escaping from a location that had multiple furnaces and boilers of a thermal power plant supplying electricity to nine states. Since the power generating equipment was relatively new — installed last March — the chances of the event happening by accident can’t be ruled out. However generous industries may think they are in compensating workers’ kin, the truth is that life is cheap in India, even of those tasked with working in dangerous environments.
