CHENNAI: The State government should ensure that safety protocols are followed at thermal power plants and provide additional compensation to the families of the nine workers who died in an accident at the Ennore SEZ Super Critical Thermal Power Station on Monday evening, demanded the CPM.
In a statement, party State secretary P Shanmugam said such accidents were happening frequently and added that fatalities were also increasing. "This was the second accident in two months. During the earlier accident, one worker died. In the recent accident, 9 workers died while working at an altitude of 150m without safety arrangements," he said.
Alleging that the electricity department and contractor (BHEL) have failed to carry out safety measures, Shanmugam urged the government to end the practice of employing guest workers for hard labour at lower wages.
"The government should ensure proper work hours, safety, pay as per norms, and other rights and facilities. The government should also cancel contracts of firms that fail to follow the rules. The State government announced Rs 10 lakh and the Union government announced Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the victims. As the victims are about 30 years of age, the state government should ensure BHEL pays Rs 25 lakh to the families," the CPM leader added.