Gas tank blast claims 5 at Bela
   Date :02-Aug-2020

Gas tank _1  H
Onlookers gathered at the blast site on Saturday.  
 
Staff Reporter :
 
The blast took place when the workers were repairing the gas tank n The management promised compensation to the families of the deceased 
 
SENSATION prevailed in the district after a gas tank exploded on Saturday afternoon killing five workers on the spot. The incident took place in Manas Agro industries and infrastructure Limited at Bela village in Umred tehsil of Nagpur district.
 
The workers were repairing the tank when it exploded, said police. The deceased have been identified as Mangesh Prabhakar Naukarkar (21), Liladhar Wamanrao Shende (42), Vasudeo Ladi (30), Sachin Prakash Waghmare (24), Prafulla Pandurang Moon (25), all residents of Wadgaon village. Sachin was working as welder while others were helpers, police said. According to police, the company had roped in a contractor from Nashik for repairing work of the gas tank. The explosion occurred near biogas plant of the company when the workers were doing repairing work on the top of the tank at 2.15 pm. Suddenly, the tank exploded during the welding work. As a result, two workers were blown away and fell from a distance of 30 feet, while two fell inside the tank. Other workers and villagers rushed to the spot after hearing the blast.
 
A chaos-like situation prevailed in the company after the blast. Bodies of two workers who fell inside the tank were taken out with a rope. An official said the workers died on the spot as the blast was very powerful. Relatives of the deceased gathered at the spot and protested for compensation to the families. The protesters did not allow police to move the bodies for post-mortem till compensation was promised by the company management. Umred MLA Raju Parwe, Superintendent of Police (SP) Rakesh Ola, Addl SP Monika Raut also visited the spot. SP Ola informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the case was being investigated from all possible angles.
 
A case under Sections 286, 287, 304 (a) of Indian Penal Code was registered by Bela police against contractor Prashant Shinde and supervisor Sanjay Ingale of SP Engineering Company, Nasik. Nikhil Gadkari is in overall in-charge of running the affairs of the company. He is son of Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari. The factory was earlier known as Purti Power and Sugar Limited.