Man dies at Jhabua Power Plant, workers go on strike

BHOPAL: Workers at the 600 MW thermal power plant at village Barela under tehsil Ghansore of Seoni district by Jhabua Power Limited, went on a flash strike on Tuesday after one of them fell down from a height of about 85 metres and died. The company officials, allegedly without informing the local police or the workers, took the body to Jabalpur, about 100 km from the plant site.
Meanwhile, the workers abandoned work demanding better safety measures and also a copy of the PM report and the FIR. The company officials have given a written assurance to the workers in this connection and have also promised that their wages for this period will not be deducted. The PM report and the FIR report had not reached Ghansore till the time of filing this report.
According to local sources, the deceased, identified as Vijay Kumar (21), son of Ram Chatar, resident of village Sarwala, district Hajipur in Uttar Pradesh, was working on the second part of the under construction boiler at the plant when he fell down at around 9.45 am. While according to Ghanshyam Raisen, general manager, Jhabua Power Plant, claimed that the deceased was alive and died on way to Jabalpur. As per the workers, Vijay Kumar died on the spot and the company officials rushed his body without informing either the local police or any one else.
When contacted TI, Ghansore, Randas Barthi confirmed that the local police did not receive any information regarding the accidental death of Vijay Kumar from the company officials and had come to know of the incident only after the workers had abandoned work. He added that he is awaiting the PM report.
Similarly, speaking to TOI former district panchayat vice-president Seoni, Kunwar Shakti Singh Sisodia, alleged that the JPL management has been ignoring the safety measures for a long time.
On the other hand, Ghansyam Raisen refuted the allegations of lack safety measures at the plant and contended, "We are following the best of the safety measures."
This is the second strike at JPL in as many months. Earlier on September 26 they had struck work demanding better safety measures and better working conditions. That time the strike had gone on for more than a couple of days before the JPL management had met some of their demands and got them to be back to work.