Mangaluru: A contract employee of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), who suffered burn injuries in the Sept 30 blast at the company’s Phase III facility, died at a private hospital Saturday, taking the toll to two.The deceased was identified as Rajesh A D’Silva. He had suffered 35% burns in the blast at the Coker Hydrotreater (CHT) unit, which was followed by a fire.Manish Karkada, of Haleyangadi, was charred to death in the blast, while 12 others were injured.Rudolph VJ Noronha, chief general manager (corporate branding and corporate communications), confirmed the death in a release and stated that MRPL management stands firmly with the bereaved family and extends its deepest condolences.To ensure the financial security of the deceased’s family, MRPL management assures the deceased’s family ex gratia of Rs 90 lakh, with the total compensation package of Rs 1.2 crore.CPM Dakshina Kannada secretary Muneer Katipalla condoled D’Silva’s death and alleged that he had fallen victim to MRPL’s negligence and failure to ensure workplace safety.He demanded that MRPL pay Rs 1.2 crore in compensation to D’Silva’s family, on a par with the compensation paid to Karkada’s family. He also sought to make public the preliminary investigation report into the causes of the incident and demanded a probe by a committee comprising civil society representatives.CPM further demanded direct employment at MRPL for a family member of each of the deceased workers and immediate disbursement of compensation to residents of surrounding villages whose properties were damaged in the blast.The party urged govt to abandon MRPL’s proposed Phase IV expansion project, citing Mangaluru’s carrying capacity and the dense population in the surrounding areas.
