New Delhi: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) probing the Srisailam hydroelectric plant fire in Telangana that killed nine persons last week is finding it difficult to reach the most affected part of the power station, ThePrint has learnt.
According to a senior CID officer, the control panels of the Srisailam Left Bank Power Station are located on the fourth level of the station, but extreme heat has lifted up the concrete floor due to which it has become risky to walk on it.
“We are trying to find out if this (fire) was caused by human error or a technical fault, but right now the heat is making it difficult to enter the control panel area (on the fourth level),” the officer, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint over the phone.
According to the officer, the fourth level is the most affected part of the station. He, however, did not elaborate on its significance to the investigation.
The Telangana government ordered a CID probe Sunday into the fire incident that took place at the Srisailam plant in Kurnool district on 20 August.
Four units of the underground hydel power station were destroyed in the fire that broke out at 10.30 pm in Unit 1 of the power station. There were 17 employees present at the site at the time. They tried to put off the fire but did not succeed, according to a company statement. While eight of them made it out through the dense smoke, the other nine got trapped inside and died. Five of them were engineers.
Also read: Was raped & tortured by 139 men over 11 years, says 25-year-old Hyderabad woman, police begins probe
State PSU looking into technical system failure
The Telangana State Power Generation Corp. Ltd (TS Genco), a state government-owned company that runs the plant, also constituted its own five-member expert committee Sunday to find out the cause of the fire.
The panel, headed by G. Raghuma Reddy, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Co. Ltd, has been tasked with preparing a detailed report on the causes and circumstances that led to the fire. It has also been asked to make recommendations to prevent such incidents in future.
TS Genco CMD D. Prabhakar Rao said the team is probing into the system failure inside the plant.
“The committee is looking into the technical system failure. There is a good and proper ventilation system in the plant and it has been running successfully. We also have oxygen support inside the support. Why it failed is being investigated,” he told ThePrint over the phone.
“Whether it began with a short-circuit is yet to be established. It is getting difficult to access the interiors of the plant, the panels due to extreme heat,” he added.
Amid fears that critical software data has been lost, Rao assured that all the data from the computer systems have backup and none of it is lost. The panel report is expected in a couple of days, he added.
The Srisailam plant
The Srisailam Left Bank Power Station is on the Telangana side of the Srisailam reservoir on the Krishna river, a joint irrigation project between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The hydropower plant comprises six 150-MW turbines housed in a four-storey facility that reaches a depth of 1.2 km underground. The plant has only one entry and exit point.
One of the deceased was 26-year-old assistant engineer Umza Fatima, who lost her life while saving at least four persons, leading their way through the emergency exit.
“It had been four years since Uzma was working here, so she knew the way out. The new employees didn’t know the emergency exit and she helped them come out. She stayed behind to contain the fire and help the rest,” claimed Mohammed Abdul Qavi Yasser, Uzma’s brother.
“Her body wasn’t burnt. She only died due to lack of oxygen. Had there been oxygen cylinders available, she would have been saved. She was found near the emergency exit,” he added.
Also read: India faces ‘lost generation’ as Covid pushes children out of school and into jobs