Chinese engineers’ bail hearing put off till Jan 18
By IANSWednesday, January 13, 2010
RAIPUR - A court in Chhattisgarh’s Korba town Wednesday deferred till Jan 18 the bail hearing of three Chinese engineers arrested Monday for a power plant chimney crash Sep 23 that killed 41 workers.
Advocate B.K. Shukla submitted the Chinese engineers’ bail plea to the district and sessions court of M.D. Katulkar. The hearing was deferred till Jan 18 as government prosecutor J.N. Chandra informed the court that the police had not prepared the case diary.
The Chinese engineers were arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the chimney crash.
The engineers were employed with Chinese construction company, Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), that was building a 1200-MW thermal power plant in Korba town, about 240 km from state capital Raipur, for Vedanta Resources Plc-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco).
The under-construction chimney, that was designed to be 275 metres high, came crashing midway. It was being built by Indian construction company Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd (GDCL) that had bagged the chimney construction order from SEPCO.
The arrested Chinese include Woo Chunan, SEPCO’s project in-charge, and two civil engineers. They have been in the district hospital in Korba since Tuesday. They complained of health problems after they were brought to the district jail on the court’s orders.
Chief Medical Officer of Korba, Fagge Ram Kumbhakar, told IANS over phone that the Chinese nationals had minor stomach-related problems and that they were being taken care of medically. He added that one of the engineers has a blood pressure problem.
The state assembly, meanwhile, saw a heated debate on the Balco chimney crash. Opposition Congress members asked state Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar why were the authorities not interrogating Anil Agrawal, the London-based NRI entrepreneur and head of Vedanta Resources Plc.
Leader of Opposition Ravindra Choubey also expressed displeasure about the House not being informed about the arrest of the Chinese engineers.
