E-Paper
Yarn worth lakhs gutted as woollen mill godown catches fire
No loss of life reported as the mill was closed due to Sunday. As many as 50 fire tenders were pressed into service; the firefighting operation was still on when the report was filed; CM orders probe
Yarn worth lakhs of rupees was gutted after a massive fire broke out in a godown of RT Woollen Mills on RK Road near Cheema Chowk here on Sunday. No loss of life was reported as the mill was closed on account of a Sunday.
As many as 50 fire tenders, including those hired from nearby districts, were pressed into service. The firefighting operation was still on when the report was filed.
Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has directed deputy commissioner (DC) Pradeep Kumar Agrawal to look into the matter and submit a report.
In his tweet the CM stated, “I have directed DC Ludhiana to look into the reasons behind the fire that broke out at RT Woollen Mills today. Luckily, there have been no casualties. The fire department took prompt action and prevented the fire from spreading and causing more damage.”
Deputy commissioner Pradeep Agrawal has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. He said sub-divisional magistrate (SDM, West) Amrinder Singh Malhi has been appointed the inquiry officer.
Sub-fire officer (headquarters) Srishti Nath Sharma said, “We received a call about the fire at 12.30pm. Soon after receiving information, a firefighting team reached the spot and started operation to control the flames. As many as 50 fire tenders, including those hired from nearby districts, were pressed into service. The process is still on to douse the flames.”
Nath said, “No loss of life was reported as mill was closed. We were told that the factory was locked. The reason behind the fire was not known yet. The fire broke out on the top floor of the three-storey building and spread to the lower floors.”
Nath said the people, living in the neighbourhood, spotted the flames and informed the fire brigade.
Nath said the incident had taken place in the same area where a fire had broken out in a factory three years ago.
Firefighters were still dousing the flames emerging from gunny bags containing polyester yarn when this report was filed.
Mill owner Tara Chand said one of his sons was wounded while helping the firefighters in dousing the flames.
He suspected short circuit to be the reason behind fire incident.
PREVIOUS INCIDENT
Yarn worth lakhs was also gutted after a godown of a yarn manufacturing unit in Machhiwara caught fire on May 10, also a Sunday.
Over 100 fire tenders from nearby districts were pressed into service to douse the flames. The firefighting operation reportedly lasted for over 10 hours. Here, too, the cause of fire was not known.
NO FIRE AUDIT SO FAR
In 2018, a fire audit for the city was announced by the then local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, months after a plastic factory collapsed during a firefighting operation near the Suffiyan Chowk. As many as 16 people, including nine firefighters, had died in the incident that occurred on November 21, 2017.
But, no audit has been conducted in the city so far and thousands of factories/commercial units continue to be run without fire safety measures and no objection certificate (NOC) and the city continues to sit on a powder keg.
The fire audit commenced in March 2018, but was suspended within a month.
At that time, fire brigade and municipal corporation (MC) officials claimed that all the buildings, including commercial and industrial, would be inspected and corrective steps taken. They were to inspected if units had stored highly inflammable or combustible material illegally.
However, the fire brigade team could manage to inspect only 35 hospitals in different parts of the city and seven buildings in the Feroze Gandhi market.
No follow-up was undertaken to check whether corrective steps had been taken by building owners or not. Senior officials gave the shortage of staff as the reason behind the same.
‘FIRE DEPARTMENT ILL-EQUIPPED’
A number of fire incidents take place during summer, but the fire department is allegedly ill-equipped to tackle the situation.
The absence of a hydraulic ladder and the dilapidated condition of tenders are the major concerns of the department, but the MC and the local bodies department have not paid attention to these problems.
Assistant divisional fire officer (ADFO) Bhupinder Singh said the process of procuring the firefighting equipment was delayed due to lockdown.
