In a fortnight, Ahmedabad’s textile industry sees second incident of fire!
And this time it’s in a garment label factory. On Saturday (22 February), a fire broke out in Lotus Label Industries, at Odhav GIDC, at around 3.30 PM. Around 30 workers used to work in the factory.
As per the local government official, 3 workers were asphyxiated to death in the fire. Earlier this month, on 8 February, fire had engulfed the unit of Nandan Denim Limited, a leading denim producer of India, in which 7 workers were killed.
Such increasing incidents have raised questions over compliance and worker safety in Ahmedabad’s textile and apparel industry.
Local media has quoted Ahmedabad’s Chief Fire Officer, MF Dastoor saying that the factory stored Rayon fibre.
The room where these workers were working had no window or ventilation. A cylinder kept inside the room exploded, causing fire, while another cylinder was brought out safely. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Located just behind the Odhav fire bridge station, more than a dozen fire tenders were rushed to the factory to douse the fire.
The workers, who lost their lives, have been identified as Dayanidhi Khuntia, Chinmay Khuntia and Kamesh Singh of Odisha’s Rekabi Bazaar area in Sadar Police limits of Jajpur district.
Jajpur administration is also inquiring into the incident and has asked Ahmedabad’s local administration to bring back the bodies of the workers. “We have also handed over some compensation to the families,” said Jajpur Collector in-charge Indramani Nayak.
Sources told Apparel Resources that some factories in these localities allow their workers to reside in the factory itself. So, the workplace doubles up as a residential quarter for the workers, which is a big safety concern.
Notably, Ahmedabad is one of the biggest Indian textile and apparel hubs having large as well as SME units that produce variety of garments and denim fabric.