Vadodara: A magisterial inquiry was ordered on Sunday into the explosions and the massive fire that followed at the Koyali facility of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd's Gujarat Refinery on Nov 11. Two workers were killed in the incident. Vadodara district collector Bijal Shah issued orders asking Rajesh Chauhan, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Vadodara rural, to conduct the inquiry.
The SDM's office, in turn, issued a public notice stating that the inquiry would be conducted under Section 28 of The Petroleum Act, 1934, and Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The SDM will conduct the inquiry on Nov 26 at his office. As per the process of the inquiry, the SDM asked the concerned parties to remain present at the office during the time of the inquiry.
On Nov 11, two blasts near the benzene storage tanks in Gujarat Refinery led to the death of two workers. The two victims included Dhimant Makwana, a native of Tarapur taluka of Anand district who was hired by a contractor, and Shailesh Makwana, a native of Koyali village, who worked in the refinery's canteen. The fire started from tank 68 at 3.
30 pm and led to another blast in tank 69 at around 8.30 pm on the same day. It was contained after more than 10 hours of a massive firefighting exercise, for which 49 foam tenders from across Gujarat were roped in.
Earlier, the Vadodara district collector said that he asked IOCL's management to thoroughly inquire into the disaster as per the rules and form a commit.
