By Our Correspondent
ANGUL/BARBIL/JHARSUGUDA/PARADIP: With Odisha Government backed by pro-active role of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, making all out efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 outbreak, several Industries and Ports , working in Odisha are not following the guidelines of State Health and Family Welfare Department, sources said on Sunday.
Sources Industries , Mines, both Iron, Ore, Manganese and Coal, working in Joda-Barbil-Koira regions of Sundargarh and Keonjhar, Angul-Dhenkanal belt, Sambalpur-Jharsuguda belt, Kalinga Nagar and Sukinda belts of Jajpur , Rairangpur and Rajgangpur of Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh respectively are not following Government orders.
Ports at Dhamra in Bhadrak, at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur and Gopalpur in Ganjam are too also not complying orders of State Health and Family Welfare Department. At least two major Ports privately managed including Dhamra Port Corporation Ltd of Adani Group in Bhadrak and Gopalpur Port Ltd in Ganjam districts of Odisha have declared Force Majeure for COVID-19.
“Dhamara Port and FACOR Company in Bhadrak, Bhusan Steel in Sambalpur-Jharsuguda, Britannia Factory in Khurda and several others are not following the guidelines .What precautions have been taken for their security so far of the employees pressurised to join on duty in these Business and corporate houses and Port,” twitted senior Journalist Patanjali Kar Sharma.
It may be noted here that, Union Steel-PNG Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Coal-Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Prahallad Joshi and Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar jointly, time and again, advocating for safety measures of workers and employees working in Steel, Coal and Mining sectors but nothing has impacted on Industrialists, Mines owners and Company CMDs, who are active in Odisha for several decades.
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas &, Steel Dharmendra Pradhan, had earlier conducted a video conference with CMDs of all PSUs of Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel. He had reviewed the status of supplies of petroleum products in the country, operations of refineries, terminals and steel plants and had also reviewed the safety measures being taken for the employees and their families.
In a statement, Pradhan later had said, “We are working to ensure that supplies of essential products to the people are not disrupted. At the same time, we are ensuring safety of our team members.”“Our team members who are putting service over self and ensuring that essential supplies are not hit, deserve applause. I have instructed CMDs to take all necessary steps to ensure safety and well being of our employees and their family members,” he had further added.“These are challenging times. We must endure, we must prevail. Our team is fully geared up to meet the challenges. Together, we shall overcome.” the Minister had said.
