‘NREGA worker stood surety for Chinese nationals’ bail’
August 18th, 2010 - 1:43 am ICT by IANSRaipur, Aug 17 (IANS) A controversy cropped up in Chhattisgarh Tuesday after a Congress politician said that a tribal, who is a National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme card holder, acted “on the behest of someone” to stand surety for the bail granted to three Chinese nationals in an industrial accident.
Releasing documents to mediapersons here, Mohammed Akbar said: “The tribal, Indra Bhawan Singh, 52, of Katghora tehsil in Korba district who earns Rs.100 a day under NREGA scheme was either coerced or misled by someone to stand as surety for Chinese nationals whom he never knew.”
Akbar said he had written to External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily stating the facts in the case and had requesting them to order a probe.
The three Chinese nationals - Wu Chunnan, Liu Gaoxuan, and Wang Weiquing, all employed in Korba town with a Chinese firm SEPCO - were arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police in January for their role in last year’s Sep 23 accident at the under-construction Balco power plant when a chimney collapsed, killing 41 contract workers.
Vedanta Resources Plc-controlled Balco, in which the Indian government holds a 49 percent stake, had awarded a Chinese firm, Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), the task of constructing two thermal power plants of 600 MW each at Korba, some 240 km north from here.
The Chinese nationals face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under 304 and under sections, 324, 326 and 34 of Indian Penal Code. As the local court in Korba and then Bilaspur-based Chhattisgarh High Court denied them bail, they moved the Supreme Court, which granted them bail in April.
Akbar said early action in the issue was necessary especially in the backdrop of a debate raging in the country over Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) former chairman Warren Anderson getting bail and leaving India after the Bhopal gas tragedy.
“BJP is pressing hard to know who let off Anderson but its own government in Chhattisgarh is totally silent after influential industrialists are apparently trying to subvert legal process by roping a NREGA worker as surety for Chinese nationals,” he alleged.
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- Three Chinese engineers arrested in Balco chimney crash case - Jan 12, 2010
- Chinese engineers bail plea hearing on March 8 - Feb 24, 2010
- Balco vice president arrested for power plant tragedy - Nov 17, 2009
- 3 arrested Chinese engineers hospitalised in Chhattisgarh (Lead) - Jan 12, 2010
- Court denies bail to three Chinese for Balco mishap - Jan 18, 2010
- Construction firm official arrested in Balco accident (Lead) - Oct 07, 2009
- Chhattisgarh suspends official for Balco accident - Nov 19, 2009
- Police question Chinese engineers in Balco mishap - Oct 07, 2009
- Balco mishap Chhattisgarh's worst industrial tragedy (Lead) - Jan 15, 2010
Tags: bhopal gas tragedy, chairman warren, chinese firm, chinese nationals, construction corporation, contract workers, culpable homicide, external affairs minister, guarantee scheme, indian penal code, industrial accident, justice minister, local court, power construction, sepco, tehsil, thermal power plants, union carbide corporation, veerappa, warren anderson