4 killed in Peddapalli coal mine blast

Naveen S Garewal

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Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, June 2

A land mine explosion in Telangana has killed four miners and injured three others. The incident took place after a detonator being placed to break a boulder burst at the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) in Peddapalli district this morning.

According sources, a group of workers, employed by a private contractor were placing detonators to break big boulders at the mine when the blast occurred. The blast killed four workers on the spot and three others suffered serious injuries. The mishap took place in open cast-1 mine.

“Four workers have died and three others seriously injured in the incident. Rescue operation is on, while the bodies of the dead have been shifted to the local hospital for post-mortem,” the police said in a statement.

Among the injured, one person is said to be serious.

The Director General of Mines Safety will soon conduct an inquiry into the incident and ascertain whether the contractor had sufficiently trained the manpower to handle explosives.

“It apparently appears to be (a case of) handling of explosives by people not trained to do so,” said the local police.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad MP and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi expressed shock at the accident and extended condolences at the death of the labourers. He also appealed to the government to provide adequate compensation to the kin of the deceased and to the injured.

Owaisi blames Centre for migrant crisis

Further commenting on the migrant issues he said the handling of the situation was “unplanned and hasty” by the Central Government.

Owaisi said the BJP-led government at the Centre was responsible for the plight of migrant labourers and that the guest workers should have been sent back home in March last week when the COVID-19 cases were less in number and the virus was less virulent.

About the lockdown he said, “I have been consistently criticising the lockdown because it is unconstitutional. If you read the Constitution, under the state’s list, the states are responsible for law and order. The Government of India and the Modi government violated the seventh schedule of the Constitution. They cannot use the National Disaster Management Act to dictate to the state governments. It is very unfortunate why the chief ministers accept this unconstitutional diktat of the Modi government,” Owaisi added.