by Ashis Sinha
RNS: Demanding justice and job to the next kin of the deceased Nandkumar, KIMS threatens to hold a massive protest at Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) on 28 November.
KIMS will stage a massive protest on November 28, at the Chief General Manager’s Office, Coke Oven 1:00 PM. We will also outline a new plan to seek justice and rights for the deceased, said Rajender Singh, General Secretary Krantkari Ispat Mazdoor Sangh (HMS) and member of NJCS. He was talking with the new men at KIMS’s Head Office.
“We will establish a time frame, and if justice is not served within that time, the coke oven will be shuttered indefinitely,” added Singh.
SAIL-BSL’s management is adopting anti-labour policy. This has not happened during any management period in the history of SAIL. The condition of contract laborers is even more pathetic here.
“On one hand, where contract laborers are yearning for minimum wage, on the other hand, if any accident happens to them during work, the present management is working on a policy of exploiting the dependents of the deceased by conspiring to declare the accident as a disease,” alleged Singh.
BSL’s consistent approach is shown in the fact that Nandkumar’s mishap in the coke oven on October 15, 2022 was ruled a heart attack rather than an accident. On that day, (15 October), Nandakumar was working the second shift at the coke oven in Battery No. 2, where he was responsible for lid luting.
After slipping and landing on the oven top itself around 9:45 p.m., he suffered severe burns to the back portion of his body as a result of the accident.
The data from Plant Medical also states that late Nandkumar fell down while working on Battery No. 2, and the report from Plant Medical shows that his pulse, blood pressure, and heart were all functioning normally.
“However, the management would not even allow the treatment of Nand Kumar’s burn in BGH so that they could cover up the accident. And Kumar ended up passing away as a direct consequence of the totalitarian approach taken by management,” added Singh.
