Hyderabad:
The BJP’s Telangana unit has demanded an inquiry by the Central Electricity Authority into the Srisailam hydro power station fire accident in which nine people including five engineers lost their lives. The Criminal Investigation Department which is probing the matter lacks technical expertise,the party alleged.
A press release from the party said BJP Telangana president and Karimnagar Lok Sabha MP Bandi Sanjay handed over a letter to the union minister for power RK Singh in the national capital seeking a probe and the minister responded positively. A major fire that broke on August 20 at the Srisailam Hydro-power plant located on the Telangana side of the border with Andhra Pradesh left nine people dead, most of them engineers, and three seriously injured.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on August 21 ordered an inquiry by the CID into the incident. “Also I request you sir to have CEA perform a safety audit of all the hydropower stations in the state so that all relevant international safety standards can be implemented as per these findings,” the BJP leader said in the letter.
The plant lacks safety provisions and does not meet the recommended practice for fire protection for hydroelectric generating plants mentioned in the National Fire Protection Association ( NFPA) Code 850, Sanjay alleged, adding there were no smoke, heat or flame detectors in the station.
A separate press release from the party claimed that the union minister, expressing grief, agreed to order an inquiry by the CEA into the incident and also informed that all hydel power projects in the state will be audited with respect to safety issues.
