For decades, Udhab Singh Yadav was a farmer. It was only last year that he started working at a power plant because it provided a “stable monthly income”, unlike agriculture that was seasonal and dependent on many variables.
But his new career — and his life — was cut short on Tuesday (April 14, 2026) when Yadav, 50, and at least 19 others were killed in an explosion at Vedanta’s Singhitarai power plant in Chhattisgarh’s Sakti district.
“It was a steady income, the ₹12,000 he drew every month was a good amount for him. The factory was only three kilometres from home. Udhab’s son Kirtan had also joined the same factory. Things were looking good until it was all over,” says Madhav Prasad Yadav, Udhab’s elder brother, who is waiting to collect his body at the mortuary of the Late Shri Lakhi Ram Agrawal Memorial Government Medical College in Raigarh.
Leaning on his crutches, Mr. Yadav has had a long wait at the mortuary on a hot summer afternoon, even as Kirtan is completing the handover formalities. The saving grace, if at all, was Kirtan’s survival, given that he was expected to be in the factory around the time of the blast. While he was on the same shift as his father, he could not go to the plant on Tuesday (April 14) because he had attended a wedding the previous evening, where the celebrations stretched on till the early hours of the day, saving his life.
