A major twist in the bloody tale of BALCO chimney collapse has been surfaced which points out that there are many more responsible heads for the mishap apart from Shangdong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) engineers. According to information, it was inferior quality steel supplied by the conversion agents of SAIL to Gannon Dunkerley and Company Limited (GDCL), the construction agency that had been sub-contracted by SEPCO to build the fateful 275 meter chimney as per their agreement in March 2008, responsible for the melee.
Sources informed that according to the agreement between BALCO owner Vedanta and SEPCO, the latter had to purchase steel approved by the SAIL. SEPCO bought steel from the local market from SAIL’s conversion agents. It is learnt that steels supplied for chimney construction were produced by ingots that usually have higher percentage of sulphur and phosphorous content (0.07% or above) than the SAIL’s maximum permissible limit of 0.04%. Normally, the steel made up of ingots cannot endure high load pressure and break after certain limit which happened in the BALCO chimney episode, informed sources.
But why did the conversion agents supply inferior quality products to SEPCO and how had the SAIL approved such steel as a salable product into the market? All these questions have one single answer as informed by sources – the conversion agents supply inferior steel to the government or its subsidiaries and public sector undertakings with sole objective to make huge profit.
It is further learnt that a nexus between a majority of conversion agents and SAIL officials who share the profit behind the curtain can not be ruled out. Besides, the SEPCO and GDCL officials had reportedly shaken hands with the conversion agents to allow the supply of inferior quality steel without scrutiny.
More interestingly, SAIL provides billets to the conversion agents to manufacture superior quality steel, but they prefer making steel from ingots because of latter’s low manufacturing cost. However, they also manufacture steel from billets but they sell it to the private companies for higher prices.
Sources said the mishap could have been avoided if the construction agency had used superior quality steel manufactured by billets. “In that case, the chimney might have bent due to excessive load pressure but not collapsed like it happened owing to the ingots which were used as raw material,” sources said. Still, one can know about the type of steel used in construction - whether made of ingots or billets, by conducting chemical composition test of the steel at accidental site, claimed sources.
Sandeep Bakhshi, the District and Sessions Judge who has been appointed to probe into this mishap as one man judicial commission, has said that the probe commission would do its job in a transparent and fair manner. The commission began its inquiry in November 2009 and is expected to submit its report to the government within three months. .
Fact File
SAIL has engaged an inspection agency based at Kolkata, which provides certificates to the former’s conversion agents after ensuring that their steel products are of superior quality meeting the SAIL standards. But how did the conversion agents manage to secure such certificates for inferior quality steel is still a point open to debate? Sources informed that SAIL itself is capable of producing superior quality steel in bulk for construction works done by the government but still it is outsourcing the job to its conversion agents which is incomprehensible. .
Clarifications
When contacted, Vedanta’s Deepak Kumar Vishwakarma from Corporate Communications department and asked who purchased steel for chimney construction – whether it was Vedanta, SEPCO or GDCL, he refused to speak on this matter saying that his senior authorities were the right people to comment on it.
Meanwhile, we also contacted SAIL’s Branch Head S Khandai and asked regarding the SAIL’s procedure of approval of steel products made by conversion agent, he said he would not be able to comment on such issues after office hours.
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