Balco probe: 'Stay' order for 89 Chinese

NEW DELHI: The Centre has decided to restrain 89 Chinese nationals from leaving the country after the Balco incident, which left 41 workers dead.

The Chinese workers, who have been restrained from leaving India, are employed at the Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco) thermal power plant at Korba in Chhattisgarh where an under-construction chimney collapsed, leading to these casualties on Wednesday. The death toll may rise further as the debris at the site is yet to be fully cleared.

Immigration authorities across the countries were alerted on Thursday as a number of Chinese employees had fled Korba fearing the ire of the locals in the wake of the rising toll. Officials at airports were asked not to allow these 89 Chinese engineers/workers to leave the country as their presence was needed during the probe into the incident.

Chhattisgarh police chief Vishwa Ranjan told TOI from Raipur that the immigration authorities were only asked to stop these Chinese engineers/workers from leaving India as they may be needed during the "technical inquiry" into the incident.

He said: "Preliminary inquiry doesn't point fingers at them (Chinese engineers/workers). They may assist the officials during the technical inquiry and therefore they have been asked to remain in India."

In the wake of the alert, four Chinese engineers -- on the basis of their passport details -- were stopped at IGIA airport here on Friday night and asked to report to the state police in Chhattisgarh. Eight other Chinese workers, including three women, were also stopped at Raipur and asked to give their statement to the Korba police about the incident.

These Chinese were reportedly employed by Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), China. The company was awarded the engineering procurement and construction contract for the 1,200 MW project. It had, in turn, outsourced the chimney construction work to Delhi-based Gannon Dunkerley Company Limited (GDCL).

The police have, meanwhile, registered a case against Balco, SEPCO and GDCL. It is learnt that GDCL staff, too, fled Korba, fearing a backlash.

According to news agency reports from Raipur, 40 of the 41 bodies of the labourers have so far been identified. One of the victims belonged to Chhattisgarh while a majority of them were from neighbouring Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.