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Blaze triggered by transformer blast destroys spinning mill in Ludhiana
Though there was no casualty, spinning mill and godown of adjoining yarn-processing unit gutted at Budhewal village, 25km from Ludhiana
A spinning mill and the godown of an adjoining yarn-processing unit were destroyed in a fire at Budhewal village, 25km from Ludhiana, early on Friday morning. Though there was no casualty, the owners of the two units located on Koom Kalan road claimed losses running into crores.
Additional district fire officer, Ludhiana, Swarn Kumar said it took 13 fire tenders about seven hours to douse the blaze. “By the time we reached, a major part of the first unit was in flames. There was no arrangement for water nearby so we had to get the fire tenders refilled from Samrala fire station,” Kumar said.
Sparks fell on woollen material
Gautam Jain, a director of Kapila Tex, said that there was a blast in the transformer outside the spinning mill, which sparked off the blaze. “Due to the explosion, sparks fell on the woollen material kept in the mill that immediately caught fire,” he said.
Spinning yarn and machinery were destroyed and the mill building collapsed due to the fire.
Security staff at the mill were the first to spot the fire at 4.30am and sounded the alert. “Soon after receiving the information, we rushed to the unit and informed the fire department. However, before the firefighters could reach, the flames had engulfed the unit,” Gautam Jain said.
Anil Kumar Jain, the owner of adjoining Parasnath Combers and Spinners, said that the fire spread to his unit and destroyed yarn stored in the godown located behind the processing unit.
The blaze was finally doused by 11am.
Second incident at mill in a year
He said this was the second fire incident at the spinning mill in less than a year. A similar incident was reported in June last year.
Jain said that in the previous incident, his factory had suffered serious damage but this time some machinery and yarn material had got burnt.
Both factories employ about 50 workers. Santosh Kumar, one of the employees, said that the fire had snatched their livelihood.
