A dumper operator of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) was killed in a freak accident at the Open Cast Project-I in Ramagundam-III area early on Thursday morning.
The 46-year-old dumper operator, identified as K Srinivasa Rao, died on the spot in the collision involving two dumpers at the OCP-I during the third shift at around 4.30 a.m. Despite adequate lighting arrangements on the premises of the OCP, dense fog is believed to have led to the collision of the dumpers, sources said.
The tragic incident coincided with the State-owned SCCL’s Foundation Day. This is the third accident in the SCCL’s coal mines in less than one-and-a-half months.
A slew of accidents in the SCCL’s coal mines in the recent past turned the spotlight on safety measures during the peak production months. On November 10, four coal miners were killed in a roof collapse incident in the SRP 3 & 3A incline underground mine in Mancherial district.
A freak accident claimed the life of a Superintendent Engineer (Mining) of the SCCL in the Kalyanikhani OCP in Mandamarri area of Mancherial district on November 19.
Earlier this year, three persons including two SCCL workers and a contract driver were killed when a high-capacity dumper rammed into a Bolero vehicle at the OCP-II in Manuguru area of Bhadradri-Kothagudem district on August 18.
In a statement, the CITU-affiliated Singareni Collieries Employees Union (SCEU) president T Raja Reddy demanded that the SCCL management should take concrete steps to improve safety in both the underground and open cast coal mines. He deplored that the series of accidents in SCCL’s mines in the recent past exposed ‘lapses’ in safety measures and brought to the fore the urgent need to optimally utilise the collision avoidance technologies to prevent accidents involving dumpers at OCPs.
He further demanded that the SCCL management should immediately disburse ₹ 1 crore ex gratia to the bereaved family of the dumper operator.
