E-Paper
Central forensic lab team collects samples from Baddi factory
“Forensic experts will examine the samples to ascertain what kind of chemicals were being used in the products,” Afroz, adding that the samples were vital for the ongoing investigation
Five days after the devastating fire at as perfume factory at Jharmajri in Baddi industrial town of Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district, police on Tuesday found a warehouse 100 metres from the company premises used for stocking finished goods. Sleuths led by Baddi superintendent of police Ilma Afroz and the Central Forensic Lab (CFL) team lifted samples of finished goods for forensic testing.
“Forensic experts will examine the samples to ascertain what kind of chemicals were being used in the products,” Afroz, adding that the samples were vital for the ongoing investigation.
Investigations have revealed that the perfume factory had overstocked chemicals to meet the demand for Valentine’s Day for February 14. The preliminary investigation found the factory caught fire after a labourer used a traditional method to heat the drum with a fire logs, which consequently exploded, leading spread of fire.
There were chemicals like, benzyl alcohol, acetone, ethanol, ethyl acetate, benzaldehyde, formaldehyde, and methylene chloride. The drums were piled on each other.
The investigation revealed that the chemicals used by the perfume manufacturing company were neither registered with the pollution department, nor the excise department, which is a big irregularity. There were violations of fire and labour safety norms in NR Aroma Company and the fire occurred due to criminal negligence of the company, the investigation found.
Industries minister Harswardhan Chauhan visited the factory on Monday and found serious lapses. It was criminal negligence on the part of the company, officials said.
After a marathon meeting with officers of various department, the government made it mandatory for all the factories to keep the fire department updated on the chemicals being stored in the factories. The factories will have to display evacuation plans in case of fire or another disaster, he said.
Regular fire audits will be carried out in the factories, officials added. Further, the industry department has decided to hire data lab contractors and a copy of the building map should be deposited with the department, he added.
State forensic services director Meenakshi Mahajan said water sprinkling will not control the chemical fire till the oxygen supply is cut. So far, five persons have been killed in the fire while five others, namely Champo, Kajal, Kajal Bharti, Kalpana and Vijay Dubey are missing.
The special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the incident along with teams of NDRF, SDRF, and FSL experts conducted a search operation within the premises of the company and collected various samples, including human body samples for DNA analysis on Monday, but they could not search the whole building as it was unsafe, officials said.
