HYDERABAD: Even as fire mishaps in industrial units are rising in city with each passing day, it appears these industrial units are ill-prepared and ill-equipped to handle such adversities of massive scales. Till day, there are no fire tenders stationed exclusively for industrial clusters, as proposed by central government. For instance, all it took was an electric fluctuation followed by a series of blasts of incandescent bulbs emitting sparks that eventually led to a massive fire break out at a rubber factory in Bolaram, destroying property worth `10 crore.
While it is essential for factories and industries to install and maintain precautions, many continue to flout such measures due to less authoritarian supervision. The fire accident at Exel Rubber limited in SV Industrial Co-operative Society, Bollarum on Tuesday brought to light that the company was ready to be prepared only for small fires as “enough” equipment is not maintained to tackle medium to major fire emergencies. “The fire safety equipment that was installed in the factory was not enough to meet a fire breakout. There were fire extinguishers found but it would not have helped us,” said Sreedhar Reddy, DFO, Medak.
It may be noted that in industries the requirement for fire safety measures goes beyond instaling fire extinguishers and advanced systems like hydrants, water sump, hose pipes, water sprinklers, smoke detectors and other such fire control systems must be put in place. The fire accident destroyed a building, and raw material through the accident which intensified within minutes of the fire break out said YS Reddy, Director of Excel Rubber while alleging that the fire tenders reached the place 40 minutes after the fire call was made.
“The poor roads in our industrial region has caused the fire tender to lose 40 minutes before reaching here,” he said while adding that “It is sad that the government does not install proper roads despite paying Rs 20-30 lakh. With the damage, the firm decided to shift its operations but Its management suggested that having a fire tender is “compulsory” to avoid huge losses.
Echoing the same, B Raja Gopal, Dy Chief Inspector of factories said the need for fire tenders is paramount now. “There is a proposal from the Centre waiting to be cleared to have fire stations in each of the industrial clusters. Its approval will help reduce a lot of industrial fire’s,” he said. He also pointed out that a lot of industries compromise on using enough fire safety equipment and do not maintain such systems.
“It takes a `2 crore investment to build a station and install the machinery and an additional Rs 60 lakh for annual maintenance which every SEZ or industrial cluster should buy. It would be unfair to expect a fire tender to come from a 40 km distance and to put out the flames,” said a senior official from the fire services department. It may be mentioned here that the RGIA airport has its own fire emergency department - GMR Airport Rescue and Firefighting to control fire.