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Fire in air cooler unit kills 6 in Hyderabad
Six persons were burnt alive when fire broke out in an illegally-run air cooler assembling unit near Attapur under Rajendranagar police limits in the wee hours of Wednesday. Fire fighters worked for more than an hour to douse the fire.
​Hyderabad: Six persons were burnt alive when fire broke out in an illegally-run air cooler assembling unit near Attapur under Rajendranagar police limits in the wee hours of Wednesday. Fire fighters worked for more than an hour to douse the fire.
The victims were charred beyond recognition. However, owner of the assembling unit, Pramod Raj, told police that four of the six victims were hired by him.
According to him, four of the six victims include Irfan, Mujahid, Saddam and Shanawaj of Nevra village in Palamau district of Jharkhand state, while two others came there on Tuesday evening to pay a visit to their friends.
According to the police, fire broke out in the air cooler assembling unit located near Pillar No. 159 in Attapur around 5.30 am.
It appears the victims locked both the front and rear entries from inside. When fire broke out they made frantic efforts to escape but failed to succeed.
The fact that all the six victims were found dead near the entrance makes it clear that they tried to come out but it appears the latch might have stuck and lost their lives. Preliminary investigations suggest the cause of fire could be an electric short circuit. Such workers come to Hyderabad in search of work during summer and go back to their native place around June every year.
Rajendranagar police registered a case against the owner of the illegal assembling unit, Pramod Raj of Karwan and took him into custody immediately. He had been running the illegal unit for four years without
obtaining any licence from the authorities concerned.
The accused has been running two businesses from the premises – one is Triwheel Enterprises that sells e-rickshaws and Ome Avone Air Coolers that assembles Enova Brand air coolers. The air cooler unit, however, has no licence, officials said adding that the owner did not install any fire safety measures or equipment in the assembling unit.
This is not the first incident in which lives were lost in fire accidents due to lack of fire safety measures. In 2007, fire accident at Aurobindo Pharma in Patancheru killed two workers, while three persons lost their lives in a fire accident at Meena Jewellers in Somajiguda in 2006 and as many as 12 persons lost their lives in a fire accident that occurred at Shanti Fire Works in Begum Bazar in 2002.
In all the three incidents, it was established by the fire services officials that the loss of lives and property was due to lack of fire safety measures. However, it is shocking to note that the managements were punished only with a fine of not more than Rs 15,000 after the managements pleaded guilty.
Same is going to happen in the present case too and the owner will restart the illegal unit after a few months because the departments concerned react only when such incidents occur and conveniently forget later, an official told The Hans India on condition of anonymity.
