Two months after an explosion at the factory of Sigachi Industries Limited in Telangana’s Sangareddy district killed 54 persons, including eight whose bodies are missing to date, the state government is yet to receive the reports of the High-Powered Committee and the Expert Committee formed to investigate the incident, assign accountability, and recommend improvements to prevent such incidents in future. This was informed to the Telangana High Court in a counter affidavit, filed in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which also stated that the investigation is still in progress and no arrests have been made so far.
The state government has informed the court that Sigachi Industries has undertaken to pay an ex gratia compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of the affected, which includes contributions from both the state and Central governments, but stopped short of mentioning any time schedule for payment of compensation to the victims’ families. While it lists out the amounts paid so far, it is unclear regarding the overall promised ex gratia of Rs 1 crore and under what heads.
According to the affidavit, the management of the factory has paid an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh each to dependents of 54 deceased, including eight missing persons. The state government initially paid an interim relief of Rs 1 lakh to dependents of 46 deceased persons and paid Rs 50,000 each to injured persons towards contingency expenses. Hospital expenditure for injured persons is being borne by the management of the factory, the affidavit said.
It further stated that Rs 9.5 lakh has been paid to five out of six employees who suffered major injuries. One seriously injured person has been paid Rs 1 lakh in ex gratia compensation, and an additional Rs 8.5 lakh is ready for disbursement but has not been paid yet because the dependents or the injured individual is not available to receive the funds. It also added that Rs 4.5 lakh has been paid to 19 employees with minor injuries.
The affidavit also informed the court that preliminary investigations by the Factories Department suggest the fire and explosion happened in the production block and that the subsequent investigations by multiple government departments found significant lapses in safety protocols, regulatory compliance, and emergency preparedness, the affidavit said.
The affidavit provided a list of permanent, temporary, and contract workers who died or were injured. Among the dead, 20 were regular employees, 16 were temporary workers, and 10 were contract workers. They belonged to various states, including Bihar (10), Odisha (9), Andhra Pradesh (9), Uttar Pradesh (6), West Bengal (6), Telangana (2), Madhya Pradesh (2), Rajasthan (1), and Maharashtra (1). There were also 28 injured persons, of whom 11 are categorised to be major injuries. The affidavit informed that 43 death certificates have been approved and handed over to the families, while three are in process. A response from the government is awaited regarding Death Certificates for eight persons who are missing to date and are considered dead.
