The Union Steel Minister, Mr Beni Prasad Varma, said here on Thursday that the accident in the Visakhapatnam steel plant on Wednesday night was most unfortunate and a high-level committee would go into the cause of the accident and affix responsibility.
He was speaking to reporters at the airport here on Thursday evening after visiting the accident site along with the AP Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
The Union Minister said the Government and the steel plant would extend all help to the families of the employees.
In addition to the normal ex-gratia, an additional Rs 20 lakh would be paid to the families of the steel plant employees who died in the accident.
For the families of employees of other companies who died in the incident, an additional Rs 10 lakh would be paid. He said the committee would be asked to submit its report within a month and the subsequent action would follow.
In response to a question whether the expansion project of the steel plant would be hit by the series of accidents of late, he said there was no need for such apprehensions and the plant would achieve the projected growth. The Chief Minister of AP advised the steel plant authorities to follow safety protocols strictly and see to it that such incidents did not recur.