Chimakurthy, February 27: Blatant violation of regulations seems to be behind yesterday’s Chimakurthy granite quarry tragedy which claimed 12 lives.
Alarmingly, such flouting of rules appears to be rampant in quarries across the region.
As for the latest mishap, infrastructural lacunae have meant that even after 24 hours only two bodies could be retrieved — those of water engine operator Malineni Pitchaiah (47) of Rajupalem village, Chimakurthy mandal, and wire-saw operator Gangireddy Siva Reddy (35) of Bakkireddypalem village in the same mandal.
Two seriously hurt workers were rushed to RIMS hospital, Ongole. Ten others are said to be buried under huge granite boulders but mining officials feel that given that the “companies often violate rules’’ many more might have been so trapped.
The preliminary findings of mining officials who reached here from Hyderabad point to lack of safety measures as the cause of the tragedy which occurred in a quarry being operated by Messrs Hamsa Minerals Exports Limited at Rajupalem Lakshmipuram village of Chimakurthy mandal around 6:30 pm yesterday when 15 to 20 workers were quarrying at a depth of 80 metres.Two survived with injuries, two bodies have been retrieved, while ten persons are believed trapped. It is learnt that the mishap occurred during blasting in a neighbouring quarry, whereas rules stipulate that no quarrying be undertaken under such circumstances.
Quarry general manager Chandrareddy said 15 persons were at work at the time. Also, whereas a 15-metre buffer between each quarry is a must as per mining safety rules, there was none such between Hamsa Minerals and the neighbouring Venus Quarry.
Some workers complained to Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, who visited the scene of the tragedy today, that mining safety officials from Nellore inspecting the quarry site every fortnight had overlooked the violations and that revenue officials too were complicit with quarry managements. Speaking to Express, a mining safety official said violation of safety norms was not limited to the quarry where the mishap happened and that the majority of quarries were disregarding regulations.
In fact, some officials and police personnel even told Srinivasa Reddy that “no safety norms’’ were being followed in over 50 granite companies in the region. Meanwhile, the families of the trapped quarrymen are in a state of desperation, with rescue officials stating that it would take at least one week to retrieve the bodies as the debris comprised nearly 25,000 tonnes of granite.
Collector Kantilal Dande, SP Navin Chand, deputy director general of mining safety (south central zone) Imtiaz Hussain and director of mining safety Krishna Murthy are camping at the mishap site to supervise operations.
–Agencies