Telangana Launches Special Drive to Inspect High-risk Industries to Prevent Industrial Mishaps
For the purpose of inspections, the government has divided the state into five regions, where each team would visit to assess safety measures. The inspections will be conducted in four phases and completed within two months.
Hyderabad: The state government has launched a state-wide special drive to inspect safety measures in high-risk industries, following the recent Sigachi Industries blast that claimed 46 lives.
For the purpose of inspections, the government has divided the state into five regions, where each team would visit to assess safety measures. The inspections will be conducted in four phases and completed within two months.
Until now, industry safety inspections were carried out solely by the inspector of factories. Under the special drive, the team will include officials from the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB), fire services, the labour department, the District Industries Centre, and the Boilers Department.
The labour, employment, training and factories (LETF) department has constituted five special teams, each headed by a deputy chief inspector of factories. Members will include the general manager of the District Industries Centre, a Deputy Inspector of Boilers, a Deputy Labour Commissioner, and an Environmental Engineer from the TSPCB.
The inspection zones have been demarcated into five regions — Sangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Medak, and the erstwhile Nalgonda districts forming four major industrial belts, with the fifth covering the remaining districts where industrial activity is comparatively low.
In the first phase, teams will inspect 4,061 high-risk units, particularly pharma and chemical factories, with special focus on Sangareddy, Medak, Medchal-Malkajgiri, and Yadadri-Bhongir districts. District Collectors will coordinate with the special teams and form sub-committees to accelerate inspections.
All high-risk industries have been instructed to submit a self-certification safety checklist, in the prescribed format, to the inspection teams within one week. Priority will be given to older factories considered more prone to accidents.
The inspections will be carried out in four phases: Phase-I will cover pharma and chemical units within a month; Phase-II will include gas bottling, oil, paints, formulation, and biotech factories; Phase-III will focus on thermal power plants, cement, steel, and foundry units; and Phase-IV will cover all other remaining high-risk industries.
As per GO No. 331, issued earlier this week, the entire drive will be completed within two months. Ahead of the inspections, district collectors have begun holding review meetings.
On Tuesday, Sangareddy collector P. Pravinya and Medak collector Rahul Raj met with their respective inspection teams to discuss safety measures and review preparedness. Collectors from other districts have been directed to hold similar meetings, assess the current safety status in industries, and seek inspection reports for follow-up action to avert industrial mishaps.