Bhopal: A major fire gutted a factory located at industrial area in Govindpura on Tuesday. The blaze, which started in the wee hours continued till 11 am. More than seven water tankers of Bhopal Municipal Corporation and BHEL were sent to douse the fire.
It was at 4 am when the gates of the factory were closed at the time when short circuit caused fire in the factory. A security guard at the gate of the factory noticed smoke billowing out of Ala Ira factory, which had machines and materials used for packaging and profile plate cutting.
He soon opened the door and then dragged out oxygen cylinders from the factory. The team of BMC fire department tried to douse the flames from outside for next few hours. When they realised that the fire cannot be controlled, they broke a portion of boundary wall to make way for water pipes inside.
According to BMC fire officials, the unit did not have fire fighting equipments. The factory is surrounded by other factories. It would have been a major loss had the fire not been controlled on time. This is the second incident of fire in a span of two days as on Monday, a major blaze had gutted coolers worth Rs 10 lakh.
Earlier, a textile mills had caught fire in which goods worth crores of rupees were gutted. A committee was also formed for inquiry into the reason, which led to inferno later. Another incident of fire, which took place in a crowded market in Bairagarh, was similar in nature. The fire safety arrangements were in poor shape, which caused the loss.
As a result, BMC conducted a survey to know status of fire safety arrangements in the city. It issued notices to hotels and multi-storeyed buildings as they lacked fire fighting arrangements. The notices were served but no action was taken in absence of Fire Act, said a BMC official.
