Jharkhand steel plant fire: Rs 31 lakh each given to families of 3 engineers

Families of three engineers charred to death in a fire at the Maa Chinnamastika Ispat steel plant in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district have received Rs 31 lakh each in compensation from the management. The payout follows a 14-hour protest by villagers and family members who blocked the factory gate and refused to let the bodies be removed until their demands were met.

Labour Superintendent Ramgarh Anil Kumar Ranjan said the agreement reached late on Saturday included Rs 30 lakh each as compensation and Rs 1 lakh each for cremation and last rites. The families have also demanded a job for one dependent of each deceased, adequate compensation, and a high-level probe into the incident.

The engineers, Sanjiv Kumar Keshari, Vineet Kumar Mahto, and Abhishek Pandey, died from severe burn injuries after a turbine exploded due to overheating of a control panel around midnight on Friday. Another employee, Tarun Rajwar, was injured and is undergoing treatment in Ranchi. A two-member team of factory inspectors will investigate the incident.