Srisailam Fire Tragedy: CBI team believes short circuit cause the fire at the control panel board

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Inquiry team headed by Additional DGP (CID) Govind Singh and DIG (CID) B Sumathi visited the spot on Sunday and held several rounds of meetings with TSGenco officials at the project site. The CID team split into groups and collected evidences that led them to the preliminary conclusion of a short circuit causing the fire at the control panel board.

The forensic team then collected burnt wires from the source of the short circuit and also the wires that supplied power to the panel board. They also collected samples from the place where the floor of the power generation unit was said to have developed cracks. The CID team also shot the process of power generation and supply of power on video cameras to understand the sequence of events on that fateful day. The CID officers also recorded the versions of the Genco staff who were present at the site at the time of the mishap.

The CID team, which termed the fire mishap as unprecedented, is investigating the accident from all angles. They even tried to find out the impact of moisture on igniting sparks at the panel board connected with the power generating units.

“The accident is one of the rarest. We on our part are constituting a technical committee that would look into the cause of the accident. However, the insides of the hydro-electrical unit is still very hot and electrical experts are unable to venture inside to take up a thorough investigation,” Ch Venkatarajam, Director Genco (Hydel) told Telangana Today. The government directed CMD Transco to set up a committee to look into the technical aspects of the accident and recommend steps to prevent such incidents in the future.

Venkatarajam said the engineers were treading very carefully as oil from the motors may have spilled during the accident and got mixed with water, which still could cause fire putting the lives of the investigation teams in danger. “We have rushed generators and transformers to the accident spot and provided illumination at places in the underground unit so that the investigation teams of both CID and Genco can move freely. We will be able to restore full power only after assessing the damage inside,” he said.

He,



however, ruled out damage to the turbines inside the power generating station, but said engineers will certainly look for any damages to the bearings of the six power generating units as a series of blast like sounds could be heard in the recording of the incident that went viral. The Genco engineers also believe that trouble may have started at the Control Panel Unit.

The material and circumstantial evidence to ascertain the cause of the major fire that broke out in the Srisailam Hydro-eletric Plant located on the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh borders on Thursday night was collected by the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the incident.

This evidence will enable the CID to ascertain whether there was any human error, short-circuit or defects in the machinery that resulted in the incident which snuffed out the lives of nine persons, police sources said.

“It’s too early to confirm the cause of fire. With the help of material and circumstantial evidence, we will be able to ascertain the reason behind the incident,” a police official, who is part of the probe team, said.

An Additional Superintendent of Police, four Deputy Superintendents of Police and other staff are part of the investigating team. Experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and Clues Team will assist the CID in the investigation.

“We have no specific time limit to complete the investigation. As the investigation involves more technicalities, we will take some more time to complete the probe,” the official said. The assistance of the TSGenco would also be taken while carrying out the probe.

The CID Chief, Govind Singh, who is an inquiry officer, interacted with the firefighters, who first rushed to the plant tunnel after receiving a distress call, and collected more information related to the rescue operation.

“CID officials asked us how we conducted the rescue operation and from where the bodies were retrieved. They also sought information about the situation when we entered the tunnel,” a Fire department official said.

The CID probe team also visited the control panel -III, IV and VI where there was major fire.