Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) Evaluates Emergency Response & Safety Systems

Bokaro: A large-scale emergency preparedness mock drill was carried out at Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) to test response capability in the event of a gas leak. The coordinated exercise brought together multiple units from within BSL—Gas Safety (EMD), Safety, Blast Furnace, Plant Control, Medical Services, Security—along with national and civil agencies including CISF, NDRF, SDRF and the district administration.

The drill focused on real-time testing of core emergency parameters: alert communication to relevant authorities, rapid field response, inter-agency coordination, chain of command clarity, medical readiness, and the effectiveness of rescue operations in a multi-agency deployment scenario.

Beginning at approximately 11:00 a.m., the simulation lasted about 90 minutes. Officials monitoring the drill from strategic locations later convened to evaluate performance and share observations.
Senior personnel present at the control post included:

• Deputy Commissioner — Ajay Nath Jha

• Superintendent of Police — Harvinder Singh

• Executive Director (Works), BSL — Priya Ranjan

• Executive Director (Operations) — Anup Kumar Dutt

• DDC — Shatabdi Majumdar

• SDM Chas — Pranjal Dhada
  along with BSL leadership, the disaster management team, and district-level authorities.

District Disaster Officer Shakti Kumar, as well as senior officers from the 9th Battalion of CISF and NDRF, provided assessments and feedback following the successful completion of the drill.

BSL — one of the biggest industrial establishments in eastern India — operates as a thermo-sensitive facility with inherent chemical and industrial hazards. In light of this risk profile, NDRF periodically conducts specialized CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear) emergency drills on-site. After a gap of two years since the last drill in 2023, the exercise was once again executed with full collaboration between BSL and the district administration.