Baddi fatal fire exposes grim reality of worker safety in Himachal industries

Baddi fatal fire exposes grim reality of worker safety in Himachal industries

Shimla/Baddi, Feb 4,

The safety and security of working envoirnment in industries of Himachal Pradesh has been exposed by the recent fire incident at Jharmajri of Baddi in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.
“04 dead bodies found during rescue operation (03 dead bodies has been identified 01 dead body not identified) and operation is continue,” stated the disaster management report on Saturday night. Adding, “04 person are Still missing but number of Missing person may increase.”
Noteworthy, that the lack of information about the exact number of workers at site when the incident occured is a evident proof that laid down procedures are not being practiced in the Industries of the State.
“This incident has happened in the same area where the labor office of Himachal Pradesh government is located, ” stated CITU. Adding, “This clearly shows that the labor officers of the state do not take any stock of the safety of workers in the factories in their district from time to time.”

Noteworthy here that the industry where this fire incident took place is of High repute across the Nation.
The CITU state commitee office bearers further alleged that the government is directly responsible for all this. They explained that the various State government’s in the bid to invite industrial investment through  single window facility to industrialists does not ensure any concrete arrangement for the safety of the workers. The government and labor department do not prepare any SOP in this context, they added. This development has exposed the industrial policy of Himachal Pradesh, they stated.
It is necessary to take strict action against the company managements so that such man-made accidents do not happen in future and the safety of the workers is ensured under all circumstances. It is very unfortunate that in industries where inflammable materials are used to make products, there is lack of proper evacuation of workers, fire extinguishing equipment, water tankers, fire brigade etc. to handle the situation arising out of fire alleged the CITU.
Moreover the incident has also exposed the lack of training to employees working in such factories where inflamable chemicals are being used.
The working conditions of workers in the factories of the state are such that there is always a danger of workers losing their lives, they rued. Labour Department officers prefer to sit in their offices instead of conducting surprise inspections of factories, as a result of which such incidents occur every day in which innocent workers lose their lives, stated the CITU leaders.
Expressing condolences with family of effected workers the CITU demanded 25 lac each for families of deceased workers and 5 lac for those injured in the fire accident.
They said that taking a lesson from this, the state government and labor department should immediately issue appropriate guidelines to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.