RAIPUR: The death toll in the April 14 boiler explosion at Vedanta Ltd power plant in Singhitarai village of Sakti district has risen to 24 after another injured worker succumbed during treatment on Sunday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Manish Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh. About 11 workers remain hospitalised, with some said to be in critical condition.As the toll climbed, Janjgir-Champa MP Kamlesh Jangde wrote to Union labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya, power minister Manohar Lal Khattar and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, seeking their intervention and demanding a high-level probe into the incident.Amid the growing scrutiny, the company has initiated compensation measures. As per the announcement, it has started handing out cheques of ₹35 lakh to the kin of affected families and ₹15 lakh to the families of injured. According to company officials, medical care is being provided at hospitals in Raigarh, with specialist consultations and counselling support extended to affected families. A 24×7 helpline has also been set up called Vedanta Samvedana Kendra, and teams have been sent to reach out to families outside the state, they said.
Company representatives said they are assisting families with treatment, accommodation and other support, and that the condition of some injured workers has shown improvement. At the state level, the Bilaspur divisional commissioner has been tasked with conducting an inquiry and submitting a report within 30 days.Preliminary inputs suggest the explosion occurred in boiler unit-1, possibly due to a technical fault in a water supply pipe joint connected to a high-pressure steam line. The sudden blast trapped workers on site, leading to multiple fatalities.
