10 workers have narrow escape after fire breaks out in Ludhiana godown
Ten workers had a narrow escape after a fire broke out at a rag godown in Salem Tabri on Sunday. The incident took place at around 12pm.
The owner of the godown, Ashok Kumar, said newspapers, cardboard boxes and plastic materials kept in the godown caught fire, resulting in the blaze.
Atish Rai, sub-fire officer (SFO), said no casualty has been reported. He said 10 workers were putting waste material in a compressing machine when it suddenly caught fire due to a short circuit.
The workers raised the alarm and took cover. Soon, the fire department was informed.Rai said that 22 firefighters were pressed into service and 32 fire tenders were used to douse the flames.
“We had managed to control the fire completely By 3pm ,” he added. The SFO said no fire safety arrangements were in place at the godown.
Later, municipal commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal and Zone-D commissioner Kulpreet Singh visited the spot where they were gheraoed by residents.
The residents demanded the shifting of the godown from the vicinity. They said fires had broken out in the godown twice earlier, due to which their houses had also caught fire, resulting in economic losses.The officials assured them that they will look into the matter and necessary action will be taken.
No lesson learnt
It has been over three years since the then local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had announced a fire safety audit of properties in Ludhiana after a plastic factory blaze in 2017 claimed 16 lives, including nine firefighters.
The audit is yet to be completed. Thousands of factories and commercial units in Ludhiana are still functioning without no-objection certificates (NOCs). Though the process was initiated in March 2018, it was suspended after a month.
At that time, the fire brigade and Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) officials had claimed that all buildings, both commercial and industrial, will be inspected under the survey and corrective steps will be taken.
The audit team was also supposed to check how many units were illegally storing highly inflammable material. but However, the survey is still in doldrums.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Many avoid third vaccine dose, doctors advise against it
LUCKNOW: Despite being eligible, a large number of beneficiaries have not taken their precaution dose or third dose of Covid vaccine in Uttar Pradesh. According to the Cowin portal, till now only 3067618 people have got the precaution dose. Precaution dose is administered to people above 18 years of age. Vaccination for beneficiaries below 18 years started on March 16, 2022. Availability of precaution doses at private centres was third.
-
Govt school teachers asked to donate fodder for cows kept in shelters
Lucknow Now block education officers and government school teachers have been asked to donate one quintal of hay (fodder) for the cows kept in the shelters established in the district under the ambitious scheme of the state government. District magistrate of district magistrate, Divya Mittal said that this practice was going on across the state. Basic Dinesh Kumar, Dinesh Kumar could not be reached for his comments.
-
Punjab govt to present paperless budget: CM Mann
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said his government will present a paperless budget, which will save ₹21 lakh of the state exchequer besides 34 tonnes of paper. The Aam Aadmi Party came to power in March after winning 92 of the 117 Punjab assembly segments in the state. The assembly had passed a vote-on-account for the first three months, April till June, of the financial year 2022-23.
-
Akhilesh takes up Azam’s cause in UP assembly
Lucknow: Leader of opposition and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday took up the cause of Mohammad Azam Khan (MLA) and said hYadavwas sure justice would be done to the senior Samajwadi Party leader who had recently been released on bail. Yadav said fake cases had been registered against Khan for setting up a university.
-
ED summons Shiv Sena’s Yashwant Jadhav in FEMA violations case
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday issued summons to Shiv Sena leader and former chairman of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) standing committee, Yashwant Jadhav, in connection with the alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. ED sources said their investigation, which was at a preliminary stage, was based on the searches conducted by the income tax (I-T) department on several premises linked to Jadhav and his wife, Yamini, an MLA from Byculla.
