Maharashtra steel factory boiler blast: Death toll rises to two; five critical

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The death toll from the boiler explosion at a steel factory in Jalna, Maharashtra, rose to two on Tuesday after a 34-year-old worker succumbed to burn injuries in a private hospital, police reported. The incident occurred on August 24 at Gaj Kesari Steel Factory in MIDC area, where 22 workers were injured, seven of them critically, when molten iron spilled on them.

The injured workers were taken to a private hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city. Among the critically injured, Krishna Yadav, who hailed from Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh, died on Tuesday morning, a police officer said. Another worker, Ramesh Bhaturam, had passed away on August 25.

Following the incident, the police booked the steel company's manager, Dilip Jha, furnace in-charge Sudhakar Roy, and crane driver Ashok Prajapati, based on a complaint filed by an injured worker.

The news agency report further said that the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve, visited the factory and criticised the management for failing to ensure safety. He called for strict action against the factory in the wake of the Jalna boiler blast and expressed concern about the frequency of such incidents.

Danve, accompanied by the company's director Ram Agarwal, Jalna Steel Association president Ghanshyam Goyal, and Shiv Sena (UBT) colleagues Bhaskar Ambekar and Anirudh Khotkar, urged the administration to address the safety lapses seriously.

The Chandan Jira police have registered a case against the factory's manager Dilip Jha, furnace in-charge Sudhakar Roy, and crane driver Ashok Prajapati based on a complaint from worker Mohammed Rafiquddin who was injured in the Jalna boiler blast.

Meanwhile, Jalna Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Kale has called on the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health to take immediate steps to improve worker safety in such units.

50 residents of Thane building rescued after electric meter room catches fire
Around 50 occupants of a seven-storey residential building in Thane city of Maharashtra were rescued after a fire broke out in the electric meter room on the structure's ground floor on Tuesday morning, an official said.

Several other residents rushed out of the building, located in Kasarvadavali, soon after the blaze broke out around 7.15 am, he added.

"There are 70 flats in the seven-storey building. In the morning, the electric meter boxes caught fire and the flames spread to the seventh floor through the duct area," said Yasin Tadvi, chief of the regional disaster management cell (RDMC) of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).

(With PTI inputs)