Chemical factory goes up in flames,no casualty

Additional District Fire Officer Kartar Singh said: “It took 30 firemen over three hours to extinguish the fire. The blaze was controlled well in time,any delay would have led to major damage as the amount of stored chemicals was huge.”

The incident caused panic amongst the nearby factory workers as the fire brigade had a hard time trying to douse the flames. Eyewitnesses stated that exploding drums went flying up to 100 feet in the air. Karnail Singh,who owns a shop nearby,said: “The heat was so much that I could feel a burning sensation in my body even though I was sitting three lanes away from the site. We immediately called up a PSEB team to switch off the power supply as high tension wires were passing above the factory premises.”

The intensity of the fire was such that cracks developed in the roofs of the adjoining factories and a scooter parked on the factory premises was burnt to ashes.

Factory owners in the neighbour said it was third such fire incident in the factory in the last three years. However,factory owner Rishipal Sood denied this. “There were complete fire safety arrangements but the chemicals caught fire owing to the hot weather. Such accidents can happen anytime.”

Although fire officials informed the press of the flouting of norms by the factory owner earlier,they became tight-lipped the moment the mayor’s son made an entry with other Akali and BJP leaders. Jaspal Singh,son of mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura who is also the area councillor,told everyone that “foolproof fire-safety measures” were taken by the factory owner.