In yet another mishap, fire broke out at the Steel Melt Shop-2 of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in the early hours Monday.
The fire, which was doused at 4.30 a.m. after a two-hour operation did not cause any casualty. None was present at the time when the fire broke out in the Filter House Building.
The incident, which created panic among the employees, is the second one in a span of three days. After leakage of hot metal, a blast occurred in the Blast Furnace-3 on Friday. However, the management restored hot metal production after carrying out repairs within 36 hours.
A company spokesman said “a minor fire mishap occurred in the Filter House Building near the canteen area of SMS-2 on Monday at around 2.30 a.m. The CISF fire brigade plunged into action and extinguished the fire within a short time.”
“There were no injuries nor was any equipment damage. There was also no loss in production. Cause for the fire mishap is being investigated,” he added.
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is ramping up production under the ₹4,000-crore modernisation and capacity augmentation programme to increase the capacity from 6.3 million tonne to 7.3 million tonne per annum.
While stating that the two incidents were not so alarming, union president J. Ayodhyaram urged the management to step up safety apparatus at the steel plant.