Shimoga, Aug 02: Union Minister for Steel Braj Kishore Tripathy on Saturday said safety measures will be given top priority in all plants of the Steel Authority of India Ltd in the country, even as the death toll in Thursday's blast at the SAIL-run steel plant at Bhadravathi, near here, rose to eight. Tripathy, who visited the 85-year old Visweswaraiah Iron and Steel Ltd plant, told reporters that special instructions have been issued to authorities to check the machinery and adopt safety measures to prevent similar accidents.

Stating that the incident at VISL was "very unfortunate", he said the enquiry committee will look into all matters about the incident and submit its report within a week.
Assuring that action would be taken against those found guilty on the basis of the report, Tripathy announced that SAIL would provide job to a member of each family of the deceased. <><> Pinto, a worker who suffered injuries in the blast in the 24 tonne capacity liquid hot metal convertor plant in the factory, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Manipal on Friday night. Bureau Report