Fire at chemical factory: Cong workers detained for protesting outside GPCB office, let off

Surat city Congress president Hasmukh Desai, along with 18 other party leaders and workers, were detained by the police on Tuesday for taking part in a dharna outside the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) office at Pandesara, demanding that owners of Aether Industries be booked on charges of culpable homicide for the death of 10 labourers in a fire at the chemical factory on November 29. They were released a couple of hours later.

Hundreds of Congress leaders and workers gathered outside the GPCB office and raised slogans against the owners of the company. The police said that after an hour of protest, the Congress workers decided to lock the main gate of GPCB office. Before they could succeed, the police personnel present on the spot detained some party workers. Seeing this, others escaped from the spot, the police added.

Pandesara police Inspector N K Kamliya said, “We detained 19 Congress leaders and workers. They had not taken permission to carry out the dharna and were planning to lock the main gate of GPCB office, which we prevented.”

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After the fire, the Sachin GIDC police had registered a case of accidental death.

When contacted, Congress leader Aslam Cyclewala said, “We have submitted a memorandum to the Surat district collector a few days ago demanding legal action against the owners of the company. Police had only lodged a case of accidental death and no arrest has been made. As no action has yet been taken by the police, we staged a dharna outside the GPCB office.”

“We want the incident to be probed by a retired high court judge,” he added.