Joint Committee report submitted before the National Green Tribunal, Southern Zone, Chennai in the matter of Original Application No. 229/2020 on the matter of gas turbine explosion at Yelahanka Gas Power Plant of the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) at Yelahanka injuring 15 on 02/10/2020.

The NGT had moved an application on its own taking Suo Motu cognizance based on a news in the New Indian Express. The NGT had directed for the constitution of a Joint Committee to look into the matter and submit a report.

The Committee stated that the incident can be treated as a fire accident, which broke out in the gas turbine enclosure of the power plant during the commissioning/trial run operations and lasted approximately for two hours and caused some fatal injuries to the personnel working in the plant. A total of 15 personnel from M/s. KPCL, M/s. BHEL and M/s. GE Ltd, engaged in the commissioning activities of the plant sustained burn injuries, out of which three people succumbed to their injuries and lost their lives in the accident.

The Committee feels that, even though completely eliminating the possibility of such accidents in large scale industrial and engineering installations might not be practically possible, the lack of following standard operating procedures intensified the damage caused in the incident. The unit shall be liable to pay the environmental price of Rupees 10.1178 lacs as the environmental compensation estimated based on the CO2 emissions made to the environment due to the fire incident.